who do you contact when you believe a child is in danger by its parents actions?

sickpuppy32

As a scientists who has some familiar knowledge of stem cells therapy, I know the research has not advanced enough to form a system of therapy. Dodgy companies in unregulated countries like china advertise miracle stem cell cures for a considerable amount of money. On RTE news today, RTE reported on a couple with a sick child going to china, spending 70k in the process to get this miracle cure. I am seriously worried about the health of this child. I have heard about this therapy causing tumors and other problems. The "therapy" is based on the assumption that if you inject stem cells into the problem area, this will cure the problem. Unfortunately it isn't that simple, the usual effect is the stem cells cause uncontrollable tumors and also turn into several different cell types.
To me they are putting their child in mortal danger and the child should be taken into protective custody.
the child has probably already left the country but if they can be prevented they should. Tried contacting the dept of children but no luck. Figured the gardai on this site might know?

sickpuppy32

sickpuppy32 wrote: »

As a scientists who has some familiar knowledge of stem cells therapy, I know the research has not advanced enough to form a system of therapy. Dodgy companies in unregulated countries like china advertise miracle stem cell cures for a considerable amount of money. On RTE news today, RTE reported on a couple with a sick child going to china, spending 70k in the process to get this miracle cure. I am seriously worried about the health of this child. I have heard about this therapy causing tumors and other problems. The "therapy" is based on the assumption that if you inject stem cells into the problem area, this will cure the problem. Unfortunately it isn't that simple, the usual effect is the stem cells cause uncontrollable tumors and also turn into several different cell types.
To me they are putting their child in mortal danger and the child should be taken into protective custody.
the child has probably already left the country but if they can be prevented they should. Tried contacting the dept of children but no luck. Figured the gardai on this site might know?

The HSE is supposed to look after children in danger, but in this case I don't think you will get anywhere. And the stem cell issue is a can of worms best left to medical professionals who have facts based on tests, not just stuff that you heard.

sickpuppy32

i'm a research scientist and I know enough about stem cells to know what they are doing is dangerous. I didn't just hear something I read it in the British medical journal!

cushtac

sickpuppy32 wrote: »

i'm a research scientist and I know enough about stem cells to know what they are doing is dangerous. I didn't just hear something I read it in the British medical journal!

That's only your opinion, there's obviously other qualified people out there who disagree & who offer the treatment.

You would need concrete, irrefutable proof that the treatment is dangerous and brings absolutely no improvement to the child's condition. If you don't have that you're wasting your time.

sickpuppy32

cushtac wrote: »

That's only your opinion, there's obviously other qualified people out there who disagree & who offer the treatment.

You would need concrete, irrefutable proof that the treatment is dangerous and brings absolutely no improvement to the child's condition. If you don't have that you're wasting your time.

try the british medical journal, the foremost opinion on medicine in the world for concrete proof
http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55430/
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090217/full/457941a.html
also i believe the times online has followed it up.

These people are nothing but quacks, dangerous ones at that and qualified is one thing they are not. There current centers for stem cell research are in th uk, usa and singapore. there are currently ten projects ongoing and none of them have reached human trials yet, certainly none of them have regulatory approval. These snake oil salesmen are targeting vunerable families with sick kids and exploiting them. That couple on RTE are paying 70k for a "treatment" that at best will have no effect.

cushtac

sickpuppy32 wrote: »

try the british medical journal, the foremost opinion on medicine in the world for concrete proof

In fairness, you have one study of one instance. That's hardly irrefutable. Do you have proof that the treatment that this child is going to undergo is of no medical benefit and will only damage the child?

sickpuppy32 wrote: »

These people are nothing but quacks, dangerous ones at that and qualified is one thing they are not. There current centers for stem cell research are in th uk, usa and singapore. there are currently ten projects ongoing and none of them have reached human trials yet, certainly none of them have regulatory approval. These snake oil salesmen are targeting vunerable families with sick kids and exploiting them. That couple on RTE are paying 70k for a "treatment" that at best will have no effect.

Again, you need to prove that these people are not qualified.

I'm not a doctor, I'm not going to get into an argument with you over the rights or wrongs of this treatment. I'm only telling you what you'd need to prove in order to make a case for child endangerment.

TheNog

sickpuppy32 wrote: »

As a scientists who has some familiar knowledge of stem cells therapy, I know the research has not advanced enough to form a system of therapy. Dodgy companies in unregulated countries like china advertise miracle stem cell cures for a considerable amount of money. On RTE news today, RTE reported on a couple with a sick child going to china, spending 70k in the process to get this miracle cure. I am seriously worried about the health of this child. I have heard about this therapy causing tumors and other problems. The "therapy" is based on the assumption that if you inject stem cells into the problem area, this will cure the problem. Unfortunately it isn't that simple, the usual effect is the stem cells cause uncontrollable tumors and also turn into several different cell types.
To me they are putting their child in mortal danger and the child should be taken into protective custody.
the child has probably already left the country but if they can be prevented they should. Tried contacting the dept of children but no luck. Figured the gardai on this site might know?

As Foreign has said it is best to contact the HSE and discuss your fears with them. I can understand your worries but tbh most of us here and within the organisation would lack the knowledge surrounding stem cell treatment/research to be of much help. Also the fact the parents are considering having the treatment outside of the country doesnt help us much either.

If say treatment was within our country we would only get involved but as an aid to the HSE through their Social workers because again we would lack the knowledge. In most cases our involvement is usually to aid in the removal of a child from their home and parents. To keep the peace and ensure the court order is executed.

So if you were to report it to the HSE they would probably look into it and if they deemed it possibly harmful to the child, the HSE could seek a High Court order preventing the parents bringing the out of the country for this treatment.

My 2 cents and there would probably be alot of other goings on that I havent described above.

sickpuppy32

i appreciate that thanks, im not an expert on stem cell research but I am fairly knowledgeable. This crowd in russia are con artists plain and simple. I sympathise with the parents but they are putting their child in danger. Would you believe thereis actually a conference on in dublin at the moment about stem cell research and where we are at the moment. We are currently predicting about 15 years before we have a viable therapy. I spoke to the IMB, the regulator for medicines in ireland and they have been inundated with calls from scientists like myself who saw RTE news and couldn't believe there eyes. They are contacting the dept of health and children.

cushtac

Are they not bringing the child to China?

sickpuppy32

yeah sorry china - no difference really, same problem

Mitch Connor

cushtac wrote: »

Are they not bringing the child to China?

Yeah they are, having spoken to the parents of other kids who have undergone this treatment, so I assume the treatment has been successful for those families.

sickpuppy32

why do I bother!
I really hope i'm wrong about this but i fear i am not

TheNog

Here is the news clip of the couple for anyone who is interested.

It seems as if the couple know at the very least the treatment may or may not work. Im just wondering if they know any possible side effects of the treatment as you say SickPuppy cos its not covered in the news report.

TheNog

sickpuppy32 wrote: »

why do I bother!
I really hope i'm wrong about this but i fear i am not

You have done all you can do. From the news clip it says the treatment is to start in a couple days so they are probably already out of the country. If they are then there little or nothing, that I can see, that can be done about it.

Heres hoping everything turns out ok for the child and their parents.

sickpuppy32

TheNog wrote: »

Here is the news clip of the couple for anyone who is interested.

It seems as if the couple know at the very least the treatment may or may not work. Im just wondering if they know any possible side effects of the treatment as you say SickPuppy cos its not covered in the news report.

thing is there was a top researcher talking in trinity last night, they could have run the report and then have an objective comment from him. I have no doubt he would have condemned the clinic. maybe i overreacted saying the child should be put into protective custody but someone should have talked some common sense back into the parents.

sickpuppy32

sickpuppy32 wrote: »

thing is there was a top researcher talking in trinity last night, they could have run the report and then have an objective comment from him. I have no doubt he would have condemned the clinic. maybe i overreacted saying the child should be put into protective custody but someone should have talked some common sense back into the parents.

Its hard to say what if anything would change the minds of any parent who has a child who has these problems or any other problem that may be solved by these treatments. I don't have children yet but when I do I would probably do whatever I could to improve their quality of life if there was any problems.

sickpuppy32

i'm a father myself so If i was in that situation i'd do anything to improve the kids quality of life too but I honestly fear based on the knowledge I have that they are in danger of making things much worse. I hope I am wrong