It is the Doctor who is to be prosecuted and his licence to practice canceled.
Story:
A two year-old boy was taken away by social services and put into foster care after his parents, Paul and Lisa Hessey, refused to follow doctors’ orders and feed him junk food, they have claimed.
The Derbyshire couple, both 48, had been concerned about heath of their son, Zak as he was not eating properly.
Mrs Hessey and her lorry driver husband, took their son, who weighed just 17 lbs, to Chesterfield Royal Hospital in July.
The couple rejected the medical advice to feed Zak a diet of junk food, to fatten him up.
“They said we had been negative about eating. That was because they had been telling us we should feed Zak crisps, chocolate and cakes to get calories into him,” said Mrs Hessey.
“I was questioning that approach. We eat proper home-made food at our house and just have chocolate and cakes as a treat.”
Doctors said they wanted to undergo a series of tests over a fortnight and the couple, of Bolsover, near Chesterfield, agreed to have him put under observation.
But in a decision that surprised the couple, a social worker from Derbyshire County Council later said that Zak needed to go into foster care so they could “assess his needs” and determine how he ate.
The couple, who have four other children aged under 10, were told that if they challenged the decision, social services would “go straight to court” where “all your parental rights would be taken away”.
“I was absolutely devastated, I broke down in tears,” said Mrs Hessey.
“I was scared out of my wits.
“They kept saying, ‘if you love Zak and you want the best for him, then you’ll agree to this voluntarily’.”
After he was placed into foster care, they were later able to negotiate, through lawyers, to spend three hours a day with him during the following week, but only in the presence of social workers.
“I thought I was doing the right thing going to the best people for advice when Zak began to lose weight,” Mrs Hessey said.
“Instead they basically accused me of neglecting him and implied it was all my fault.”
Eventually they went to court to try to get Zak back, and after four months, he was allowed to return home after gaining less than a pound in four months.
Social services eventually said they were good and caring parents.
A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “We only take a child into our care either with the consent of the parents or following very careful consideration by a court.”
A spokesman for Chesterfield Royal Hospital added: “While we understand Mr and Mrs Hessey’s distress, Zak’s welfare was paramount and we believe we acted in his best interest.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6713838/Couples-son-2-taken-into-care-by-social-workers-after-they-refused-to-feed-him-junk-food.html
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