O

I
B
IT

ET

IR
L

IA

S
C
I
H

M
R

Ashley, a 9-year-old girl in Washington state, will never grow

up. She has no breast buds or milk glands. She has no
uterus. She will not grow taller than 4-1/2 feet. What is
startling about her plight is that Ashley was made this way
by doctors at Childrens Hospital in Seattle.
Following a request from her parents, doctors there surgically
removed her uterus and newly-forming breasts and began
treating her with high doses of estrogen to ensure that
Ashley would forever remain a child. Why would Ashleys
parents and doctors decide to have their daughter, like
Peter Pan, never grow up? And why would doctors agree to
use their surgical skills and drugs to stunt a childs normal
development?

She has a rare brain condition known as static encephalopathy.

She cannot walk, talk, move or swallow food. It is not clear
whether her damaged brain can recognize her parents or
her siblings. The doctors said that Ashleys parents came to
them deeply concerned about how they would be able to
manage their daughter as she grew older, bigger and
heavier. The solution they seized upon, unprecedented in
the history of medicine, was to use hormones and surgery to
keep Ashley forever a child.
If she remains small then her parents can move her easily from
place to place. By remaining small she can interact more
with the rest of the family who can take her around the
home and to outside events. She wont have to deal with
monthly periods. She may have a lower risk of getting raped
and pregnant. She will not have breasts that might make it
uncomfortable for her to lie in one place for long periods of
time.

There are many parents and families who deal with severely
disturbed children and adolescents. More than once a
parent of a child with severe autism has told me they do not
know if they can physically manage their child. Others worry
about their children harming themselves or others due to
their mental illnesses or disorders.
The problems Ashley and her parents face are terribly real. But
permanently freezing a person into childhood is not the
solution. Families like Ashleys need more help, more
resources, more breaks from the relentless pressure of
providing care and some hope that their daughter can be
somewhere safe and caring after they are gone.

REFERENCES:
Caplan, Arthur . "Is Peter Pan treatment a moral choice?."
MSNBC. NMB, n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2012.
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16472931/ns/healthhealth_care/t/peter-pan-treatment-moral-choice/>.