Teenager insists on her right to die with dignity | Society | The Guardian

I'm really pleased this girl has been allowed to make her own decision on this. It's very sad that's she's so ill that she's had to think about making a decision like this at 13 I believe the hospital was in the wrong to try and remove the child away from her parents so they could perform the operation against her will.

I do wonder if this ruling will change things for others who may be in a similar position.

I can recall cases similar to this in the US, although I don't know if it has gone to the extreme of heart transplants, which IMO constitutes extraordinary means to keep a person alive. Of course, we have had cases, most notably that of Terry Schiavo (link), where the loved ones want to remove the person from life support (which is also extraordinary means) and run into opposition from the hospital or other people claiming an interest. In the case of Schiavo, that included the United States Congress .

A heart transplant is an incredibly invasive procedure, and would have lifelong consequences to the girl if she lived, such as having to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of her life, live with the possibility of transplant rejection, etc.

There is an irony here, too. While on the one hand hospitals do things like this to try to force medical intervention when it is not wanted, on the other hand people (including children) are dying in the US because they do not have health insurance and therefore cannot afford to get the treatment that would keep them alive.

"Set a new course. There's coffee in that nebula." -- Capt. Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager

Well, Kitty, it seems simple to me. Every time the health system gets the urge to spend up big on legal fees which invade people's freedom of choice, they could simply count to ten, calm down and put the funds into health care for needy kids.