Füsun Evren, Umut Mert’s mother, earlier this week announced she was looking for a doctor who would stunt her son’s growth, in an operation now referred to as “Ashley’s treatment,” so named after a 9-year-old Seattle girl whose parents opted to stunt her growth with high-dose estrogen. Füsun Evren fears that if her son got taller and heavier they would be unable to hold or carry him. Umut Mert cannot eat, speak or walk by himself. “The only thing he has managed to do in 12 years was to hold his head up. I can’t even tell if he is in pain,” said Evren.“Now we can take him places with us. If he grows, his social life would be over. He would have to lead a life chained to his bed.” Umut Mert is currently 80 centimeters tall and weighs 19 kilos. “He gains weight as he grows. How will we hold him?” Umut Mert cannot sit up straight, which rules out any chance of using a wheelchair. His chances of improving are only 5 percent, according to his mother who says, “I want him to stay as my little Mert.”
Other parents support growth stunt
Hasip Yazar, the father of a 17 year old suffering from the same disability, expressed support for Evren’s demand for Ashley’s treatment, speaking with the Anatolia news agency on Friday. “I have to carry my 47-kilo son on my back. I have a bad back and bad knees.”
Another parent of a 17 year old with a disability, Süheyla Yapıcı, said: “I do support Füsun Evren. If this treatment could have been possible 10 years ago I would have gone for it without even thinking twice.” Yapıcı said her son was going through adolescent depression, which sometimes causes him to get aggressive and cause physical damage inside the house. She added that if her son had had the treatment, he “wouldn’t have to go through all this.”
Ashley’s treatment sparks debate on ethics
Professor Saim Yeprem from the Religious Affairs Directorate said that Ashley’s treatment was unacceptable. Yeprem said: “Umut Mert would be castrated if he received Ashley’s treatment. Castration is opposed by all religions, not only Islam.”
Dr. Güler Saygun from the Turkish Disabled Persons Administration said that applying such a treatment would require approval from the Ministry of Health’s Ethics Council. The head of the Turkish Association for the Disabled, Zülfikar Akar, said: “We don’t think it’s the right choice, but the mother’s situation is indeed difficult. These situations happen because care centers don’t offer long-term care for people with disabilities.”
Professor Ayşe Serdaroğlu, from Gazi University’s Children’s Neurology Department, told the Milliyet daily that applying Ashley’s treatment was not currently possible in Turkey. There is as yet no cure for cerebral palsy, a disorder of the body’s motor system in which certain muscles are continuously contracted, and which is usually caused by damage to the portion of the brain or spinal cord that controls voluntary movement. However, the possibility that in the future a cure may be found raises ethical concerns about stunting the growth of these patients, she explained.
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