The heart-rending and in many ways heart-warming story of little Ashya King illustrates a weakness in the way public authorities view parental rights. Ashya, who is five, had an operation for a brain tumour and was kept in hospital while further treatment was arranged. The parents did not agree with what was proposed, and took the child away with them to Spain where they owned an apartment. Alerted by the hospital, the police promptly instituted an international hue and cry, treating it virtually as a case of kidnapping and claiming the child was in danger. The parents were arrested and held in custody, while Ashya was admitted to a local children’s hospital. The public instinct in this case was that right was on the side of the parents, no crime had been committed, and they had act