What has our society come to, that we very nearly saw legal action to force a thirteen year-old girl to have a heart transplant against her wishes? I shall not reiterate the sad circumstances of this case here, as plenty has already been written elsewhere.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24637947-2703,00.html
http://calvininjax.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/girl-13-refuses-heart-transplant-and-hospital-backs-down-from-legal-action/ (you can leave comment here)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27665174/ (examines the issues more deeply)
I shall pause, however, to consider what would have been done to the likes of you and me, quite rightly, had we sought to force a 13 year-old into a traumatic experience against her wishes. There are, thankfully, child abuse (protection) laws.
Words fail me.
Why was a clumsy bureaucratic tool unleashed and almost unstoppable legal machinery launched before proper consideration had been given? I can see the point that medical personnel would be very concerned to act in a child's best interests. I cannot see how threatening the horrors of legal action against a loving family, that has been through so much trauma already, can be anything other than crass and ugly. Why the threat before the opinion of a social worker had been sought?
Would you put your dog through such an ordeal and risk, for what appeared (from the minimum information that has been published) to be the chance of a very short prolongation of life? There was also the chance of dying alone in hospital. One assumes that Hannah would, anyway, had the proposed course of action been pursued, have to have been forced into sedation before being abducted from home.
Dignity and welfare were very much at risk. Congratulations to Andrew and Kirsty Jones and Hannah, for bringing this to public attention and, hopefully, for making other PCTs more careful in future (this incident is even more poignant, when it is considered that Mrs Jones is apparently an intensive care nurse).
My heart goes out to the family and I hope that the Disney World trip, to Orlando, Florida, becomes a treasured reality.
[Why not take a look at www.alternativevet.org while you're here?]