John Travolta's 16-year old son dies

[Pardalis]

On CNN, Dr. Gupta seems to think the condition is very rare at this boy's age:

Gupta said it was rare for teens to display symptoms of the disease [Kawasaki disease], which usually occurs in young children.

"Most of the patients are usually between 2 and 5 years old. Sometimes they get up to age 8. But it's very rare in fact for someone to be in their teens and still have symptoms of Kawasaki. They may have had it earlier in life, but to still have any manifestations of it is unusual," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/02/obit.jett.travolta/index.html

Maybe the fact that the sickness was left untreated for so long is the reason it lingered into his late teens? Or maybe even that he didn't have Kawasaki desease.

Again, this is pure speculation, but it doesn't look good.

 

[MattusMaximus]

That said, what - if anything - does $cientology have to say about autism or anti-seizure medication?

From Arti's Zimbio link...

... For many years now, there have been rumors about the Travolta's being in denial about their son's Autism, relying on their religion to address the situation. According to Scientology teachings, Jett has been given the status of "degraded" where the church says he can cure himself by working harder on the church's teachings. The Travoltas deny that Jett has Autism, claiming that their son's condition is Kawasaki syndrome, a disease characterized by high fever, skin rash and swelling of the lymph nodes.

I feel sad about this because there are some treatments for Autism that would not involve medication - something Scientology disdains. For example, Applied Behavior Analysis would be helpful. But the religion denies the existence of any mental/neurological disorders, so it seems that nothing will be done for this boy. ...

Oh my. I'm beginning to get a bad feeling about this...

 

[Pardalis]

But the religion denies the existence of any mental/neurological disorders

Yeah, I think they say psychiatry is some kind of a Nazi conspiracy.

 

[articulett]

Here's some video of Jett from November:

http://x17video.com/celebrity_video/john_travolta/john_travolta_and_his_family_a.php

 

[lionking]

Linking Scientology with this tragedy without any evidence at all is just dispicable.

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Linking Scientology with this tragedy without any evidence at all is just dispicable.

I said that it's very possible that young Mr. Travolta simply slipped!

 

[Pardalis]

Linking Scientology with this tragedy without any evidence at all is just dispicable.

Nobody stated that the link was a fact.

 

[articulett]

I think it's despicable that Scientology teaches that there is no such thing as a mental disorder and is against psychiatric drugs of any kind. Autism doesn't "exist" in Scientology.

The kid was clearly autistic. The Travoltas believed that Scientology "cured" or helped their kid recover from his earlier bout with Kawasaki syndrome... it encouraged their devotion to the faith. I am quite sure that Scientology will get none of the blame--religion never does. But that doesn't mean it didn't play a role in this tragedy.

 

[lionking]

I think it's despicable that Scientology teaches that there is no such thing as a mental disorder and is against psychiatric drugs of any kind. Autism doesn't "exist" in Scientology.

The kid was clearly autistic. The Travoltas believed that Scientology "cured" or helped their kid recover from his earlier bout with Kawasaki syndrome... it encouraged their devotion to the faith. I am quite sure that Scientology will get none of the blame--religion never does. But that doesn't mean it didn't play a role in this tragedy.

Evidence would be nice.

I am not an apologist for Scientology - it is the most ridiculous "faith" I have seen - but there is no reason (yet) to blame it.

And yes I know people will say "I didn't blame Scientology", but they are just weasel words.

 

[CFLarsen]

Don't blame death on rare childhood illness, say docs

Kawasaki Disease almost killed Jett Travolta when he was a toddler, but experts said it was unlikely the rare childhood disorder led to his reported seizure Friday.

"Seizures are not part of Kawasaki disease," said Dr. Stanford Shulman, a specialist in the disease at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

"If a teenager had a seizure and died, that would not commonly be due to Kawasaki disease."

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Linking Scientology with this tragedy without any evidence at all is just dispicable.

Well I wouldn't say there was no evidence at all. Travolta publicly blamed postpartum depression on the sufferers. And I believe he and his wife blamed their son's troubles on some woo.

I agree there isn't enough to really say what happened here. But the speculation has not been totally baseless.

 

[articulett]

I consider apologetics weasel words.

 

[articulett]

What claim of mine are you having problem with and what exactly did you want evidence for... and what, if anything, would you consider evidence? Use my words, not what you imagine I've said.

 

[articulett]

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/jett-travolta-victim-autism-kawasaki-or-scientology

 

[lionking]

I consider apologetics weasel words.

And this has precisely what to do with the death of Travolta's son?

You suggested that scientology had a role in his death. Evidence?

 

[articulett]

Well do you agree to the following?

1. The son has some sort of neurological disorder that involves seizures.
2. Scientology does not recognize neurological disorders.
3. If a child with a neurological disorder is born into a Scientology family, the disorder is unlikely to be treated the way standard medical practitioners would treat it.
4. Psychiatry and neurology are anathema to Scientologist--they are opposed to medication--particularly psychoactive medication (see Tom Cruise's rant on Matt Lauer).
5. A seizure appears to be involved in the kids death. Most kids who have seizure take anti-seizure medications to prevent what happened to Jett. If seizures are frequent, they also have helmets and are not left alone. I know, because I spent some time teaching kids with autism (and every single one of my students was on anti-seizure medications, btw).
6. Scientology cannot cure autism or Kawasaki's disease. The Travolta's believe in cured their son's Kawasaki disease which made them even more eager adherents to Scientology. Kawasaki disease goes away on it's own. It does not cause teen seizures, walking on toes, lack of eye contact, slack jaw, or the tics evident in Jett Travolta.
7. Autism does however.
8. Autism doesn't exist to Scientologists; all healing is done through reading, clearing, and Scientology woo... just like Christian Scientists (the irony of the name of both is not lost on me.)
9. The Scientologists will do what all churches do and spin so nobody associates Scientology with this death... but they'll sure go out of their way to use Travolta and Cruise as evident of their successes.
10. This seems to work on a surprising number of people. We live in a world where faith is considered a "virtue".

If the kid would have been on seizure medication if not for Scientology, then faith in Scientology encouraged the parents to be negligent in regards to standard practices of children who have seizures.

Diabetes is a "chemical imbalance" (something that Scientologists don't "believe in")... recently a kid died because her parents used faith instead of taking her to a doctor, getting a proper diagnosis and beginning insulin injections. They truly believed they were doing what is best because according their faith, they were-- their childs death was a testament to how much they trusted god to answer their prayers

In treating Jett exclusively with Scientology methods and refusing to believe the obvious about his condition, the Travoltas were, in essence doing the same as above. They believed that strict adherence to the faith was the key to benefits and lack of faith was the problem. Most faiths are big on this meme.

If you remain adamant that Scientology played no role in Jett's death, then I can only guess that it's because no amount of evidence would convince you otherwise. I won't play semantic games so that you can imagine I'm saying something I'm not. It's much easier just to ignore those who really don't want a dialogue.

I've found that questions like yours come from people who want to infer their position by pretending to want dialogue or clarification. They can build themselves up by putting others down without ever having to build a case for any alternate claim. I've learned to ignore people who waste my time by asking questions they do not want the answer to.

I believe your questions are in that category.

 

[lionking]

Your opinions of my questions mean nothing to me. You are using a terrible tragedy to slam scientology without any evidence whatsoever. This is shameful.

 

[Lonewulf]

My questions are:

1) What was the cause of the seizures?

2) Exactly what is involved in Scientology's "detox" program, if the child indeed did go through it?

3) What medication, exactly, was given to the child to prevent his seizures?

As for whether or not the seizures were the cause of death, we'll have to see, I s'ppose.

 

[desertgal]

Few things to note here:

It's pretty obvious, for most of us who know autism, that Jett Travolta was autistic. Whether his parents were dealing with that or not, I have no idea. I won't slam them for not confronting his autism when none of us really know if they did or they didn't. We can guess that they didn't because they were Scientologists-but we don't know.

There's no evidence that Jett was going through Scientology detox. What Preston said is that her son was on a "detox diet". I'm not sure what that entails, but, looking at photos of the boy, he did have a weight problem. So, it's not unlikely that the "detox diet" was just that: a diet.

It's possible that Scientology played a role in the boy's death. It's equally possible that his death was an accident. In any case, whatever they may have done wrong as parents, Preston and Travolta are paying the ultimate price now, and I'm sad for them.

I say, wait and see what the autopsy reveals before speculating. Cause right now, everyone is like a talking head. There just isn't enough info available yet to be able to form the whole picture.

 

[articulett]

Your opinions of my questions mean nothing to me. You are using a terrible tragedy to slam scientology without any evidence whatsoever. This is shameful.

And I consider this your third dishonest straw man--shameful indeed.

Good-bye. Hang with your own.