The Hippocratic Oath Needs Updating...

A little girl with a very rare medical condition died after a hospital threatened her parents with a police protection order if they did not comply with a new treatment plan, it has been claimed.

Really…?

Such immediate and overwhelming action seems a little out of character for the system which so dismally failed little Alfie, Sean and Lois. No speedy action for them, and their parents weren’t simply arguing over the appropriateness of medical treatment – they were directly abusing them!

So, tell me more:

Father Malcolm, who had taken the lead in his daughter's care, believes the change in treatment led to her death and that Francesca would be alive today if his hand wasn't forced with the threat of police intervention.

Last night the devoted father-of-six spoke out about the tragic circumstances of his daughter's death, calling for a change in the way vulnerable children are treated.

Ahh, I think I see the real picture emerging:

Speaking of the hospital's decision to pursue a 'much more aggressive' therapy plan he said: 'I had warned in writing that such a medical approach may prove fatal, based upon the fact that I had been Francesca's full-time carer for almost the whole of her life and had studied her medical condition and her response to treatment 24/7 for 11 years.

'I have conducted significant research into her case since her death and I am entirely satisfied that the treatment killed her and that neither I nor her mother nor Francesca herself would have agreed to this approach but for the intervention of child protection procedures.'

It seems Mr Blair-Robinson made the mistake of being a devoted, law abiding father, and not a feckless violent drug addict. Such threats wouldn’t have scared them, if anyone even made them.

It also seems he challenged the medical authorities’ god-like right to do as they pleased to advance their careers and research stats. And that could not be tolerated, as we’ve seen before:

But after moving from Surrey to West Sussex in 2006 the doctors overseeing Francesca's care changed.

When she collapsed in May 2007 medical staff at St Richard's Hospital, in Chichester, wanted to change the way she was treated. She made a swift recovery but doctors still advocated 'aggressive use of IV antibiotics' and oxygen therapy, claims Mr Blair-Robinson.

Which the parents felt wasn’t the right treatment for their daughter. Silly of them to think they might actually have a say in the process:

He said both he and his ex-wife objected, and within a week were summoned to a meeting where they were confronted without warning by a social worker, police officer and medical staff.

'Her mother and I were threatened that unless we withdrew our opposition to the hospital's medical plans, Francesca, a frail and vulnerable child with a very sharp intellect, would be made the subject of an immediate police protection order.'

It’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that Mr Blair-Robinson was bullied and threatened because he could be.

Terrified the couple complied and the little girl was referred to Southampton General Hospital which set out the more 'aggressive' programme.

Within five months she had died of respiratory failure, a death that Mr Blair-Robinson would not have happened if he had been allowed to continue taking the lead in her care.

But doctors are always right, aren’t they?

And it seems in this case, they didn’t even keep records:

He believes there should have been a narrative record of her care in her medical notes and a better system of information sharing and is calling for an overhaul of the way the NHS handles complex cases of children with special health needs.

An overhaul of the ability of medical staff to behave as they please with no comebacks might be in order too….