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Schoolgirl wins right to refuse treatment

LONDON: A terminally ill British schoolgirl has won the right to refuse treatment as she wants to do die with dignity.

Hannah Jones, 13, from Herefordshire, who has a hole in her heart caused by drugs she was taking for leukaemia, was offered a transplant but was told there was a risk that surgery could result in death or further weakening of her heart.

When she refused the option, local health authorities launched legal proceedings in the High Court to force her to accept it.

And child protection officers threatened to remove her from her parents’ custody alleging they were “preventing” her treatment.

But when officers interviewed her, Ms. Jones made clear it was her own decision. She was able to persuade them she wanted to spend the rest of her life quietly at home with her family and not be subjected to further painful treatment. “I just want to forget about my sickness, go on a holiday and enjoy while I can,” she told Sky TV after winning the case.

Her father Andrew Jones, an auditor, described the action of the local authorities as “outrageous.” He said: “The threat that somebody could come and forcibly remove your daughter from you against her wishes, against our wishes, was quite upsetting, really.”

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