The mother of a teenager fighting to protect his life-saving dialysis treatment says medics are using his autism against him.
William’s family are involved in a battle to ensure he goes on receiving life-saving dialysis treatment
William Verden, 16, faces being told he cannot have the dialysis treatment he needs to keep him alive.
Mum Ami McLennan, 45, says he will die within weeks if doctors at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital end his treatment.
She alleges the medics are trying to deny him treatment because of his autism.
Rare kidney condition
William, who also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), suffers from the rare kidney condition focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.
He has taken out tubes during treatment sessions and medics have said continuing is not viable.
William, from Newton, Lancashire, needed restraining during some dialysis sessions.
Instead, medics want the family to accept end-of-life care.
Right to treatment
Ami said: “He deserves the right to treatment like everybody else.”
The mum says her son still has a good life and plays golf twice weekly.
William has been assessed as lacking the capacity to make decisions.
Ami said she is unsure whether medics are using his lack of capacity against him.
She added: “I know he doesn’t want to die because he says it. He’s constantly asking, ‘Am I getting a transplant?’”
No behaviour specialists
Ami said the hospital has not attempted to bring in behaviour specialists to help William accept treatment.
Medics in Manchester were given a second opinion by an expert from Newcastle.
The expert said a transplant was unlikely to work, as William’s kidneys are devastated and the procedure carries massive risks.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust runs the children’s hospital. A spokesperson for the Trust said they are “very experienced” in caring for autistic children and “reject in the strongest terms any allegations of discrimination”.
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Published: 3 December 2021
