Terminally-ill Girl Refuses Heart Transplant
(Undated) -- A terminally-ill British girl has successfully pleaded her case to refuse to have a potentially life-saving heart transplant. "The Independent" reports 13-year-old Hannah Jones, who has a rare form of leukaemia, explained to doctors that she believed there was too much risk involved in the treatment and said she wants to be among family and friends during her remaining days. She pursuaded a child protection officer to get the hospital to rethink its position of launching court proceedings to temporarily remove her from the parents' custody to allow the transplant. Hannah was diagnosed with leukaemia at age five and was given a high-strength drug to combat the infection, but also developed a hole in her heart. The leukaemia has not returned, but she's got severe heart damage. She was told the only solution was a heart transplant which she rejected due to the chance she'd not survive and, if she did, the leukaemia could return. After her talk with the child protection officer, her views were presented to the High Court and the case was abandoned. Her father, Andrew Jones, blasted the hospital's action as "outrageous." He says his daughter had been through enough already and to have the added stress of a possible court hearing or being forcibly taken to the hospital is disgraceful. |