Mastectomy, not mastectomy

The “Ashley-X” or “Pillow Angel” case received a great deal of attention and was the subject debate over the last two years. The case received initial attention in October 2006, when Gunther and Diekema published a clinical account of Attenuating growth in children with profound developmental disability including with what they described as “the ethical debate.” A few moths later, early in 2007, attention to the case became intense after CNN and other major media source picked up the story. This post deals with one aspect of the story that was left out of the original report, the bilateral radical mastectomy performed on Ashley, and asks why the authors failed to mention it.