Spain, August 12, 2011
*A judge orders a 12-year old girl with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome=20
/Myalgic **Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and Multiple Chemical=20
Sensitivities (MCS) to be locked up in a psyquiatric ward of a hospital=20
and forbids her mother to see her.*We are calling on everyone to support=20
this family and to help us with the legal costs.
THE FACTS
Last Saturday August 5, 2011, two plain-clothes policemen went to the=20
home of V.R., a 46 year-old woman who has severe CFS/ME, MCS and=20
Fibromyalgia, and took her 12 year-old daughter (who also has CFS/ME and=20
MCS) with a judge=92s order which stated that the girl had to be=20
hospitalized in the psychiatric ward of the local hospital in Central=20
Spain and to keep the mother from seeing her.
THE BACKGROUND
The mother, V.R., who is very ill herself, has been fighting for years=20
the local Social Services. She had been denounced by the School Board=20
for her daughter missing a lot of school, although a judge pronounced=20
himself in favour of the mother and forced the School Board to send a=20
teacher to the girl=92s home for schooling there due to her severe CFS/ME=
=20
and MCS.
Both the mother and the daughter were forced by Social Services to go,=20
once a week, to go to see a psychologist, although the physical effort=20
to go to these appointments made them sicker. Also the homecare that=20
they were entitled to also made them sicker as the home-care workers did=20
not want to respect their need for Enviromental Control and they went to=20
their home wearing perfume and smelling of tobacco.
When the mother complained about this, Social Services, instead of=20
taking into account their special needs, they saw it as =93the last straw=
=94=20
and they decided to cancel their home service and they proceeded to=20
accuse the mother of =93isolating=94 her daughter which led to having the=
=20
girl being taken away.
MEDICAL REPORTS
The fact that V.R. and her daughter have been diagnosed by three of=20
Spain=92s leading CFS/ME specialists (and one of them also is an MCS=20
specialist), Dr Jose Alegre, Dr Joaqu=EDn Fernandez-Sola and Dr Ana Garci=
a=20
Quintana, as having severe CFS/ME and MCS with lab tests to prove so,=20
like alteration in their immunological parameters, high RnaseL and viral=20
reactivations, is being ignored by the Social Services of that region of=20
Spain. They say that the medical evaluation is going to be done by the=20
local psychiatrists.
THE SITUATION RIGHT NOW
Yesterday, the judge ordered an =93indefinite hospitalization of the girl=
=20
in the psyquiatric ward of the local hospital and forbid the mother to=20
go see her, alleging that any contact with the mother would be bad for=20
the girl=92s health=94.
Now the girl is in the hands of psychiatrists who are trying to prove=20
that mother and daughter have a Joint Delirious Alteration and=20
M=FCchhausen Syndrome and that the mother is unfit to look after her daug=
hter.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Faced with this situation, we, three Spanish CFS/ME and MCS=20
associations, have joined efforts from day one to support this girl and=20
her mother at all levels: legal, logistic, medical, etc. But we need=20
financial support. The mother gets a 400 Euro-a-month pension=20
(equivalent to 350 British Pounds or 569 US Dollars) on which her and=20
her daughter try to live on. They don=92t have the funds to pay for the=20
lawyers who are now working on their case to try to get the girl out of=20
the hospital, reunite her with her mother and assure that she does not=20
lose her custody battle with the Social Services. We have been footing=20
the bills up to know but our associations don=92t have funding.
Right now, because of the delicate work being done by lawyers, we do not=20
want to put direct pressure on the Social Services ourselves and the=20
lawyers say that right now, any public or press pressure on this case=20
might back-fire. But as soon as the lawyers give us the go-ahead, we=20
will start a massive public pressure campaign and we will let you know=20
what you can join in that effort..
For now, we just want to let you know of this unfolding situation and to=20
ask for any possible financial support you can give.
We are just starting this battle and WE WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TAKE OUR=20
CHILDREN WITH CFS/ME OR MCS AWAY SAYING THAT THEY HAVE MENTAL PROBLEMS.
Thank you from all of us.
Clara Valverde
President
Liga SFC, Spain
www.ligasfc.org <http://www.ligasfc.org/>
formacionsalud@hotmail.com <mailto:Formacionsalud@hotmail.com>(any=20
messages for mother and daughter in English can be sent to this=20
e-address for translation before passing it on to them)
Francisca Gutierrez
President
ASQUIFYDE, Spain
www.asquifyde.es <http://www.asquifyde.es/>
Jose Luis Rivas
President
ASSSEM
www.asssem.org <http://www.asssem.org/>
For international donations, the bank account number is:
(if you are making a donation from Europe):
ES80 1465 0100 91 1700515969
(if you are making a donation from a country outside Europe):
INGDESMMXXX 1465 0100 91 1700515969
(if you are making a donation from Spain):
1465 0100 91 1700515969
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