Protons for Jehovah’s Witnesses? How press coverage of Ashya King’s case brought proton beam therapy to the public arena

Abstract

The case of Ashya King, the child brain tumour patient whose parents took from a British hospital so he could be treated with Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) abroad, contributed to popularize that technology among a general audience. Through the content analysis of British and Spanish press coverage (N=329), our research shows that proton therapy enjoyed scarce coverage in the analysed media before Ashya King’s case. His story, magnified due to the fact that his parents were Jehovah’s witnesses was a cause both for public concern and media sensationalism. We show that the case brought PBT into the public sphere and, consequently, contributed to create a demand for facilities that offered this therapy. This case provides new data about how technology and medical controversy reaches different audiences: while the sphere of experts keeps debating about the benefits of the therapy, the public sphere has already decided to adopt