E-mail sent to TCFR supporters June 28, 2005
MEDICAL/LEGAL DEFENSE FUND TO BE ANNOUNCED FOR PARENTS OF KATIE WERNECKE
Thursday, June 30, 2005 at 3:00PM Texas Center for Family Rights will host a press conference in Houston with Dr. Edward and Michele Wernecke, parents of Katie Wernecke, 13 year old cancer patient removed by CPS on June 4th. The press conference will take place at the Hornberger Conference Center, 2151 West Holcombe approximately ½ mile from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
TCFR will announce a national medical and legal defense fund set up on their behalf by a national foundation specializing in care for children.
The Werneckes will be in Houston for further planned invasive surgery on Katie at M.D. Anderson. Doctors there continue to test regarding the presence of cancer although six tests have already been done.
CPS removed Katie from her parents on June 4th in the Corpus Christi area based on a call from her local doctor because of the immediacy of need for treatment including radiation. To date no such further treatment has taken place.
Peter Johnston, president for Texas Center for Family Rights continues to ask, "What was the emergency? Contrary to what CPS has said, Katie has been allowed very limited contact with her parents that has always been closely scrutinized. These parents want the best for her and she should be returned to their custody. They questioned the ‘standard care Dr. Alter demanded. Katie and the whole family have suffered for offering options for her care."
Johnston continued, "The Werneckes concerns were validated in last week’s U.S. News and World Report. Senior writer, Dr. Bernadine Healy cautioned about ‘The Tyranny of Experts. She warned of the ‘I am God mentality of doctors such as Dr. Alter who ‘say do it my way or you die. Dr. Alter called CPS who then removed Katie. Dr. Healy wrote, "the hell that has broken out over Katie "might have been prevented.’"
"Dr. Healy goes on to cite Lance Armstrong, who at 25 and facing treatment for testicular cancer, was told by an initial specialist he ‘should forget his bike. Lance and his mother went for a different opinion in Indiana where the doctor focused not simply on survival but on making Lance "whole again.
"Dr. Healy concluded, ‘At the time, Lance Armstrong was 25 years old. Had he been eight years younger when he got sick, sports history could have been changed: The state of Texas might have stepped in to impose on him the tyranny of standard care.’"
At the press conference TCFR will disclose the name of the national foundation sponsoring the medical and legal defense fund with contact information.
Respectfully,
Peter Johnston , J. D.
President
Texas Center for Family Rights
