The parents of Ashya King say they want to give their 5 year-old-boy with a brain tumor the best chance to live with a revolutionary new treatment they learned about on the Internet. Their British hospital says the boy has a 70 percent to 80 percent chance of survival with the treatment it offers, and it's the parents who are putting the child at risk. Brett and Naghemeh King signaled Monday they would fight extradition, defying doctors and the legal system as a British court considers a ruling on forcing the family to come home.
"I'm not coming back to England if I cannot give him the treatment I want, which is proper treatment," Brett King said as he cradled the child in a video posted before his arrest.
The Kings are seeking a new type of proton beam radiation therapy that typically costs at least $33,000. The family plucked their son from a hospital in southern England and fled to Spain in hopes of selling a property to obtain enough cash for treatment in the Czech Republic or the United States. Police pursued them. Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for an offence of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 years, hours after the Southampton hospital realized their patient was gone. In Britain, proton beam therapy is currently only available to treat certain patients with cancer in their eyes.
IN-DEPTH
- Parents of Critically-Ill Boy Face Extradition
- Police Search for Boy With Brain Tumor Taken From Hospital
Missing Boy With Brain Tumor Alive in Spain, Parents Arrested
- The Associated Press