Girl Says No to Life-Saving Heart Transplant
Another story of a seriously ill teen refusing treatment hit the news yesterday -- but unlike other recent cases in which young patients and their families were forced to comply, in this one doctors agreed that 13-year-old Hannah Jones was able to make the decision for herself.
Hannah, who lives in a small town northwest of London, survived treatments for leukemia only to be diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a weakness of the heart muscle that can lead to heart failure. Doctors prescribed a heart transplant, but their patient had had enough of hospitals.
An MSNBC report quotes Hannah as explaining, "I’ve been in hospital too much — I’ve had too much trauma." Doctors initially insisted that she come to the hospital so they could make sure she understood the consequences and was making the decision freely. When her parents resisted the pressure to bring her, a social worker was dispatched to the family home. The social worker agreed with Hannah's decision, and doctors declared they would not force her to have a heart transplant.
"I just decided there were too many risks, and even if I took it there might be a bad outcome," Hannah is quoted as saying in the MSNBC report. "There is a chance that I may be OK, and there’s a chance that I may not be as well as I could be, but I’m willing to take that chance."
Seems like a reasonable thing to ask. I guess the difference between this and earlier cases is the fact that heart transplant is considered a more extreme procedure that chemotherapy and radiation -- not to mention one in which resources are not plentiful. If it was treatment for a recurrence leukemia that Hannah was turning down, things might not have been resolved so smoothly.
Or, if the hospital had ordered the authorities to seize Hannah and remove her from the custody of her parents when she first disagreed to their announced treatment. So often in these situations, it seems as though something as simple as sending a social worker to the home, or respecting the experience of young patients with involved medical histories, or understanding that force is not the best way to wield medical treatment, might prevent a lot of problems and facilitate acceptable treatment.
Do you think doctors were right to accept Hannah's refusal of a potentially life-saving procedure? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Photo: Ian Waldie/Getty Images
She’s absolutely right…there are major risks with heart transplant.
But it doesn’t matter if she’s right or wrong. The bottom line is the decision is hers, not her doctor’s, not the government’s.
I am so glad that, in this case, the rights of the patient were respected, and she was allowed to refuse treatment. This is particularly valid in this case, where there was a real chance that the anti-rejection drugs would lead to a recurrence of her leukaemia – so doctors were considering that the transplant at most would give her only a few more years (rather than the ten years that most recipients survive). As well as complying with her wishes, I am doubly glad that this may mean another recipient (without the other complex medical problems) may benefit from the heart Hannah may have been given.