Girl wins right to refuse heart

[Bluelass]

The thing is BL, the majority of children do not understand concepts of life and death in a way your average adult does. I would be sad if we started to give children the same sort of rights regarding their lives as adults have.

In saying that, if it is the case that this girl has only a tiny chance of rehabilitation, then I'm all for her not having the transplant. But that decision surely ought to be made by an informed and educated adult, not a 12 year old kid.

The thing is that kids who have suffered so much and for so long do grow up very quickly and can't possibly be compared to any other child of the same age. None of us know what this girl is like but I know my friends son was way ahead of his time in terms of maturity.

This girl will never have had a 'normal' childhood so she cannot be measured against children of the same age.
One other thing that is never mentioned when children have heart transplants is that it's more than likely that they will have to have another one in their late teens or soon after because a transplanted heart cannot grow in the same way as the original heart. The chnges from adolescence to maturity are very small in terms of actual growth but all there can be serious complications if an older persons heart is used initially and vice versa.
God knows I'm no heart specialist and I'm really only saying what my friend has told me about her son's situation when he was much younger.

I'm not suggesting that any child of 12 should be given options to refuse treatment but I think that each case should be reviewed and considered on its merit. The medics and other professionals know what they are doing, one hopes!
Whatever happens she is one brave young person. God bless her.

 

[Nebbiolo]

I'm not suggesting that any child of 12 should be given options to refuse treatment but I think that each case should be reviewed and considered on its merit. The medics and other professionals know what they are doing, one hopes!
Whatever happens she is one brave young person. God bless her.

I agree, BL. It seems to me that we ought to disallow children to make life or death decisions. But that does not mean that their desires are not always sensible. If X desires to refuse treatment and it is deemed that treatment might be futile, then withholding that treatment might be the way to go. But I don't think we should be saying that Xs desires should carry any weight. Merely, it should be that her desire coincides with what is deemed the correct path to follow. But everything must be on a case-to-case basis, and I presume it already is. I'd be interested to know which people get the ultimate say. I pray that it is not just the family. I'd rather a mix of people were involved, including doctors, philosophers, members of the church (I wonder which way they'll go?) and the family. I could think of a few more people to go a potential list, but can't be arsed at this time.