Teenage girl wins right to refuse treatment.

[Callisto]

How dare the hospital presume to take the decision on having treatment away from the patient? Especially such a major operation that could result in much worse quality of life. Why must we preserve life regardless of the quality of that life and regardless of how that person feels about their life?

Article here: www.itv.com/News/Articles/Teenage-girl-wins-right-to-die-48619433.html

Doh, forgot the square brackets. Here we are: www.itv.com/News/Articles/Teenage-girl-wins-right-to-die-48619433.html

How sad but what an incredibly brave young lady she is. I hope that her last days (snd may there be many!) are as comfortable and fulfillling for her and her family as possible.
I agree, what is the point in having the op if it will cause her worse suffering, or even worse shorten her life even more quickly?

I don't know whether to be sad or happy about this story.

It's good that she got her wish and won't be pushed in and out of hospital for the rest of her short life but it must be so bittersweet for her family

Agree though it's disgusting that they tried to force her to do it, maybe child protection should try bothering their arses to help children who actually need/want them rather than hassling this girl and her family!

My thoughts go out to all of them

well, in this case the treatment - a heart transplant - could effectively 'cure' her condition (huge hole in own heart). It's not like she's having chemo just to give her an 6 months to live, or experimental drugs with horrible side effects or anything. At 13 she may be making a short term decision that if she was older she wouldn't make at all.

I don;t see how child welfare could force her to have the op, but I hope that with a bit of time and no pressure and some sensible input she changes her mind. 13 is a very tricky age to be making this kind of decision.

If she were my dd I am not sure i could let it happen.

My understanding was that the hole in her heart was caused by chemotherapy and the immunosuppresant drugs would make her leukemia return - there is no realistic hope for a "cure" for this girl, it is about trying to maintain her quality of life as much as possible and/or trying to extend it.

Agree that child protection should not have been involved in this.

I know, it must be heartbreaking for the family, but if she was my daughter I don't think I would be able to force her to do something that she truly didn't want to do. But then, I'm watching my mother become more and more ill with prgressive MS so I don't belive in life for life's sake (and nor does my mother).

It's being discussed on R4 right now.

3 years ago there was this teen in America whose parents were charged with neglect for supporting their son when he refused a 2nd round of chemo after the first nearly killed him here

This girl has been in and out of hospital for the past 8 years - now she just wants to spend what little time she has at home.

My first boyfriend's brother died of leukemia at the age of 12. He could have had a bone marrow transplant, but he and his parents decided not to go for it - they had seen other children go through it and knew how badly they suffered afterwards, and decided it wasn't worth it.
I don't think she should be forced to have the operation. It should be a decision for her and her parents to make, although I do hope that it is a fully considered decision, made for the right reasons.

have just read about this story.

The treatment (heart transplant) will cure the hole in the heart, but its very risky surgery with no guarentees, and no idea on how long a new heart will last for. This risks of rejection of the organ will increase each year, and there is only 60% chance you will still be alive in 5years. Add to this the girls added complication of a rare form of leukemia into which she could relaspe due to the immune suppressent drugs she will be on, her chances of living a 'good life' will be lower thant he average heart transplant patient.

As dh says, it may 'cure' you of the heart problem, but you are swapping one lot of problems for another set of issues.

this girl has never really had a normal life. And even if she were to undergo a heart transplant, she would need to spend the rest of her life on medication.

And if the luchemia then returned would she even be able to have treatment?

It's a very brave decision for such a young girl to make imo.

I'm assuming that child protection needed to be involved to ensure that her parents weren't putting any pressure on her.

the parents were on the news saying that the child protecction services were very supportive with them all.

I think that the parents are very brave to support their childs decision. It must not be an easy decision to make, and whilst I think the case is incredibly sad, I'm pleased that the case has gone the way the patient wanted.