A critical-care doctor’s application for permanent residency in Canada has been rejected because one of his daughters has cerebral palsy and might be a drain on the health care system.

But the South African physician, who has been practicing in Canada since 2002, says his 22-year-old daughter has been institutionalized since she was a toddler and he has no intention of moving her to Canada.

A letter from the Canadian government says that, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a "person whose health condition, severe developmental delay associated with cerebral palsy, might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services," is inadmissible to Canada.

Since the doctor’s "non-accompanying family member is inadmissible to Canada," he is also "inadmissible."

A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada said Muwanguzi’s case is complicated and moving along as quickly as possible.

Wendy Danson, his lawyer, said Canada needs doctors like like this. His son in South Africa, another practicing doctor, would also like to move here, she said. His wife is a teacher in Calgary. One of his daughters is a pre-med student at the University of Calgary and is paying high international student fees of about $30,000 a year.

The couple returns to South Africa once a year to visit their sons and their daughter with cerebral palsy, who isn’t capable of recognizing them or even talking. (Cerebral palsy refers to a group of neurological disorders that affect control of movement and posture and that limit activity.)

The doctor said it’s wrong he is being rejected "because of the notion that my daughter would be a drain on the Canadian economic system."

Nearly 50 Ohio-area children, afflicted with cerebral palsy, are participating in a new study to see if hyperbaric oxygen therapy can ease symptoms.

During the study, high concentrations of oxygen are delivered to patients in a pressurized chamber.

Although there is no proof, experts say that the high doses of oxygen could revive damaged or dormant cells in the brains of patients with cerebral palsy.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is approved to treat wounds that are difficult to heal, radiation injuries, carbon monoxide poisoning and the "bends,” a condition suffered by scuba divers who surface too quickly.

But its use for neurological disorders is controversial.

Proponents say the therapy may increase motor skills in children with cerebral palsy, a group of movement disorders caused by damage to a child’s brain in the womb, during birth or in the first few years of life.

But opponents of the study say HBOT is a waste of time and money, that there is no data that indicates HBOT has any measurable impact on children with cerebral palsy. Further, they say, this study gives parents false hope of a miracle cure.

Still, proponents insist previous research wasn’t very thorough and more research is needed.

A charity, called Texas Wishing Well Foundation, raised thousands of dollars for a trip of a lifetime for a little girl suffering from cerebral palsy, then disappeared with the money, disconnected their phones and shut down their website.

The little girl was devastated.

The money was supposed to pay for a shopping spree, a trip to Buffalo, NY to visit the girl’s best friend, and ice skating at a rink for special needs kids.

The same group did the same thing in 2003 to a little boy with cancer living in Houston.

The families just want the group shut down.

When the story hit the airwaves early this month, people called in to the television stations in Houston and Dallas and donated enough money to fund both trips.