Family squabbles can be ugly. Add that to hot disagreements about controversial therapy strategies for a child with autism, it can quickly get even uglier.
A father of a 7 year old son with autism is taking his ex-wife to court to allow their son to undergo IV chelation.
According to the Statesman.com, Mario Martinez wants his wife's consent to let their son, William, undergo intravenous chelation — the use of chemicals to remove metals, such as lead and mercury, from the body.
Martinez, 39, said he thinks his son is making steady progress at the Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin by undergoing a less invasive form of chelation and wants the boy to start IV chelation.
"Now, he is upping the ante," said Juli Martinez, 46, his ex-wife. She thinks IV chelation is too risky.
Thoughtful House requires consent from both parents to do IV chelation, and her refusal to consent led her husband to seek the court order.
District Judge Rhonda Hurley of Travis County postponed the matter Friday, saying she wanted to hear testimony from the child's doctor, Bryan Jepson at the Thoughtful House.
The center is an alternative treatment facility for autistic children headed by Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield is defending his medical license in London on charges of serious professional misconduct, mainly in connection with research he led in England a decade ago. Wakefield has denied the allegations.
Some practitioners, including Jepson, say "heavy metal toxicity" is a factor in autism and use chelation to alleviate symptoms, including speech and social interaction problems. Many mainstream doctors consider chelation ineffective for autism and dangerous for patients.
Juli Martinez, who told the judge she says chelation isn't approved as an autism treatment by the Food and Drug Administration or the American Medical Association and "has a risk of death."
Thoughtful House's IV chelation consent form, which Juli Martinez provided to the American-Statesman, includes a long list of possible side effects that include intestinal disorders, joint pain and, in rare cases, "allergy, anaphylaxis, arrhythmia and even death." It adds that the treatment offers no guarantee of success.
Juli Martinez said in an interview that her son has been receiving chelation in suppository form for two years, which she claims has made him ill. She said chelation hasn't helped his autism but being in a regular classroom has.
Mario Martinez, who has had primary custody of the couple's two children since their 2007 divorce, disputes that chelation has made William ill and said that the boy had an IV chelation test that showed he easily tolerated it. He said it brought "immediate, dramatic results," in which his learning and behavior improved.
Hopefully the family can resolve this disagreement and have a meeting of the minds on the best treatment strategy for their child.
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Comments
The mother has an excellent case, given that chelation for autism is all risk with no proven benefit. There's not much Dr. Jepson can tell the judge, other than "trust me, it works."
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