AVN: Helena Denley (updated)
The facebook group “Stop the Australian Vaccination Network” (SAVN) welcomes all to its fold, and does not delete comments or ban members with differening points of view. It welcomes discussion, but comes with a warning that people who express opinions without good evidence may encounter unwelcome responses. Fair enough, too.
Occasionally a member of the official Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) facebook group posts on the SAVN for discussion, or simply to troll. One such member, Helena Denley, made some posts in support of homeopathy, especially to help with pregnancy. A few laughs were had as a result, with Helena gaining many brownie points with AVN fans for her spirited responses, one of which stated:[1]
Dave Singer: Postmodernism has gone too bloody far when I’m told I have to gestate a child before I am qualified to say that a $10 teaspoon of water isn’t medicine.
Helena Denley: Exactly. Until you grow one you might like to direct your attention to something more constructive.
And having a baby doesn’t make me an expert in everything – I never said it did.
I would never dream of saying I knew what it was like to be a “dickhead” (excuse my language) only a man would know about that. XXXXXXX
Meryl Dorey, posting in the official Australian Vaccination Network Yahoo! group, had this to say:[2]
Helena is a wonderful homoeopath and parent who has been posting on
the SAVN site. I thought – why is she putting herself through this -
but to be honest, she is giving much better than she is getting and I
just had to share this fantastic post. In a discussion about the
uselessness of homeopathy for pregnancy with the SAVNers treating
Helena with the usual lack of respect and intelligence, here is
Helena’s comeback. The kind of thing you always wish you could think
of at the time..
So, the SAVN is accused of treating Helena with the ‘usual lack’ of respect and intelligence.
Dear reader, below is an article that was published in “The Age” newspaper, 16 December 2003[3]. When you have finished reading it, I ask you to decide why Helena Denley deserves any respect whatsoever for her ‘medical’ opinions. As for intelligence, that is not a reliable indicator of anything, so let’s agree to replace that term with ‘common sense’ or ‘critical thinking skills’.
Parents could face charges over toddler’s death
By Jamie Berry
December 16, 2003
The parents of a toddler who died after epileptic seizures could face criminal charges over her death after a coroner ruled they fundamentally breached their duty of care by not giving her anti-convulsant medication.Coroner Phil Byrne said Warren and Helena Denley ignored specialist advice of Royal Children’s Hospital medical staff and were instead prepared to rely on various, ill-informed advice to help their daughter Isabella.
The inquest heard Mr and Mrs Denley had seen alternative therapists, including a psychic who said the seizures were related to a past-life trauma.
Isabella, 13 months, died at home in Kew on October 19 last year after 30 seizures in seven months.
The inquest heard that Isabella was diagnosed with epilepsy by a neurologist with the Royal Children’s Hospital, Mark Mackay, who prescribed her anti-convulsant medication.
But Mr and Mrs Denley refused to treat their daughter with the drugs, citing harsh side-effects such as sleep loss and hyperactivity.
Mr Byrne said the cessation of the prescribed anti-convulsants caused Isabella’s death and represented a most fundamental breach of care by her parents. “The warnings of the direct consequences of such a decision were not heeded,” Mr Byrne said.
Based on the material presented at the inquest, Mr Byrne said he would refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr and Mrs Denley appeared shocked after Mr Byrne’s finding and decision. Outside court, they refused to comment.
Mr and Mrs Denley and Isabella’s grandmother, Olga Szewczuk, were excused from giving evidence at the inquest last month, claiming privilege against self-incrimination.
But in a police statement tendered to the court, Mr Denley, an information technology contractor, said in the weeks before Isabella died, she was purely on homoeopathic medicine. “This was the happiest and healthiest she had been since the seizures had started,” he said.
They had researched Isabella’s symptoms and came up with several possible diagnoses. But Mr Denley said Dr Mackay was dismissive of any of these suggestions after diagnosing epilepsy.
Mr and Mrs Denley said alternative health professionals relieved some of Isabella’s side-effects. Mrs Szewczuk said she saw the difference in Isabella after she was given homoeopathic medicines. “She was walking well, co-ordinated and happy, (she was) the Isabella we knew,” she said in her statement.
Mrs Szewczuk was angry that Dr Mackay had called the Department of Human Services child-protection unit in July because he believed Isabella was at risk after diagnosing her with life-threatening epilepsy.
Mr Byrne said the family did not accept Dr Mackay’s diagnosis. “I have endeavoured to understand why apparent loving parents could take the decision they did in the face of blunt warnings as to the potential consequences,” he said.
“It is true the various prescribed medications resulted in unwanted side-effects that impacted adversely on Isabella’s quality of life, but contemplate the potential alternative.”
A tragic story, indeed. A story, however, that needs to be told. Alternative medicine, which is unproven or proven not to work, can have deadly effects. To deny the life-saving advancements of modern medicine, and to believe that life is bound by all manner of things undetectable by science, is both irrational and delusional.
UPDATE 18 March 2010: I have included below another newspaper article and posts made by Helena. This information is included for the sole purpose of highlighting the dangers of woo-woo thinking in healthcare, and the extraordinary mental gymnastics that people perform to support their ideological beliefs.
If are to learn anything from this tragedy, let it be that belief is dangerous in healthcare, and should never replace science-based medicine.
From “The Age” newspaper[4]
Inquest told parents ‘rejected advice’
By Jamie Berry
November 26, 2003
The parents of a 13-month-old girl who died after a series of seizures refused to treat their child with anti-convulsant medicine and instead opted for alternative therapies, an inquest heard yesterday.The Coroners Court was told that Warren and Helena Denley were concerned that their daughter, Isabella, suffered serious side-effects from medicine used to treat epilepsy.
The inquest heard that Mr and Mrs Denley had seen a variety of alternative therapists, including a psychic, who told them that Isabella was “reliving a past life trauma”.
Isabella died at her home in Kew on October 19 last year.
Mark Mackay, a neurologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, said Isabella had suffered from “life-threatening epilepsy” and needed anti-convulsant medicine. But the inquest heard that Mrs Denley wanted to take Isabella off the medicine because of side-effects, including hyperactivity and sleep loss.
“I was uncomfortable with the fact that the parents were nominating me as Isabella’s treating medical practitioner despite the fact that they were refusing to follow my medical advice,” Dr Mackay said.
“Isabella’s mother told me that she did not want to see someone else because it was fate that brought us together.”
Dr Mackay said he called the Department of Human Services’ child protection unit after Isabella’s parents failed to heed his advice, as her seizures were resulting in frequent admissions to hospital.
Dr Mackay said Mr Denley was “extremely angry” and told him he had no right to call DHS. “I told him there was a legal mandate that required me to notify the department… if I felt a child was at risk,” he said. The department monitored Isabella for almost two months, the inquest heard, but stopped a month before her death. Compliance with the recommended treatment was monitored via urine and blood tests.
While Dr Mackay said Isabella had suffered from epilepsy, an exact cause of death was not established, as Mr and Mrs Denley lodged an application with coroner Phil Byrne requesting that no autopsy be performed.
Forensic pathologist David Ranson said that in the absence of an autopsy, he was unable to determine whether there was any internal trauma or an underlying disease that could have directly or indirectly contributed to Isabella’s death.
But Dr Ranson said toxicology samples taken from Isabella did not detect any anti-convulsant drugs in her system.
“Clearly, if this child was having a decreased number of seizures in association with medication… there is an increased possibility of a seizure occurring in the absence of controlling of medication,” Dr Ranson said. “In the setting of such a seizure, death could occur.”
The inquest continues.
Posts made to the AVN Yahoo! group[5] by Helena Denley.
Message #36011
Hi,
I need some advice/help/opinions.
I have a little boy who is 5 months old & has had itchy, red, dry & weepy skin for the last 2 months. I put socks on his hands to prevent him from gashing his skin & he wakes 2-3 times a night from scratching.
I have discussed before on this forum my story with my daughter Isabella (last Sunday was the 6th anniversary of her death – she was one year old).
Anyway, because of the ordeal with her & doctors, I have not vaccinated Daniel, nor has he been to a doctor other than for his 6 week checkup.
I thought that Isabella had itchy skin because of her birth & 2 month vaccinations (I stopped after that). Well Daniel hasn’t been vaccinated & he appears to have eczema – although I am loathe to use this term because it’s an allopathic term that everyone else uses when they see him.
I have been taking him to my homeopath since birth – his weepy eyes cleared up very quickly, so I am a little frustrated that the skin issue is taking so long to clear.I am still a year off finishing my Homeopathy diploma, so my view of homeopathy & what it can do may be considered to be idealistic – I would have thought that this skin issue of Daniel’s would have cleared by now.
I had eczema as a baby & my mum used bucket loads of cortisone cream on me & I don’t use pharmaceuticals myself now, so I don’t want to go that path for Daniel either. I have tried everything I know topically on his skin to try and relieve the dryness & itching & redness to give the remedy a chance to work – paw paw ointment, Greenridge chickweed compound, calendula ointment, calendula tea, chamomile tea, oatmeal baths, raw milk diluted & mopped onto his skin, sweet almond oil, neways baby lotion, tamanu oil, argan oil, coconut oil – short term relief with any of these seems to fade very quickly.
We live in Melbourne – dry weather – and Daniel’s skin had a reprieve when we went to Cairns in September for 5 days – 30 degrees & light humidity every day – but it reverted back to dryness & itchy red the day after we got home.
Last week my homeopath gave me a different remedy for him – there was an aggravation initially then improvement, but even that has slid back a little – like two steps forward & one step back.Can anyone explain to me what is happening in homeopathic terms with regards to his vital force ? Has anyone had success with treating eczema homeopathically & how long did it take to clear?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Thankyou
Helena
Message #38000
Russel,
Homeopathy is a valid option for parents who don’t vaccinate.
It should not be confused as an “alternative” to vaccination because clearly it is not a vaccine.
What it is in an option for parents to treat their children when they are unwell without the need for drugs in the first instance.
I think we would all agree that the main aim is to raise healthy children – childhood illnesses when managed with natural treatments (age appropriate) such as homeopathy, essential oils, herbs, vitamins, diet, help to strengthen a childs’ immune system – setting them up for life as a strong, healthy adult.
I admit that any illness in a child can be scary as a parent (I know only too well these feelings after my daughter was ill and then passed away) – at least now with my son (who is almost 1) I have a trusted homeopath that I can call on & I have first aid homeopathic remedies at home that I can use if necessary – e.g with a fever I know to monitor my baby and if necessary I can use some Homeopathic Belladonna and call my homeopath – no need for pharmaceutical drugs.In fact on the weekend my 4 yr old niece was at her dads place (he is mainstream, my sister has an alternative/natural health focus) & she was unwell & her dad administered Panadol – my niece told her dad she doesn’t use that “yucky” stuff – he insisted & she vomited up the panadol immediately afterwards. Now I think her body knows what’s good for her & what isn’t & her body instantly rejected the drugs – she hasn’t been vaccinated, my sister only uses homeopathic remedies for her & in her 4 1/2 years of life she has had a few colds & maybe some stomach bugs that have subsided very quickly. So her immune system is still experiencing some illnesses to strengthen it & the immune system is learning how to deal with illness on it’s own & being helped by the homeopathic remedies (which help strengthen the vital force).
There is an enormous problem with overcrowding in emergency departments in hospitals. If all parents had some basic “first aid” homeopathic remedies and clear instructions on how to use them (provided by a qualified homeopath – not a naturopath that has done one semester on homeopathy as part of their naturopathic training), then parents would regain some of their sense of feeling in control and release some of the fear around childhood illnesses and perhaps not need to rush to the emergency department at the first sign of a temperature.
It is the fear of the illness (instilled by doctors & “well-meaning” govt health departments) & not knowing what to do if something happens, that directs parents to thinking vaccination or drugs is the only option.
Cheers
Helena Denley
Footnotes:
1: http://www.antivaxxers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Helena.pdf
2: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AVN/message/42578
3: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/15/1071336887473.html?from=storyrhs
4: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/25/1069522605256.html
5: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AVN/