And more, this on Amber Hartland...
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Six-year-old Amber Hartland has infantile Tay-Sachs, a brain disorder which has left her almost totally paralyzed, unable to speak and severely epileptic. But she can see and hear and communicates with coos. The Sun
and the BBC report that Amber's survival is due to a drug Zavesca, which costs the NHS £2,500 a month. Her parents insist she is not a drain on NHS resources. The only additional treatment she needs is intensive care when she gets chest infections. This has happened five times in four years.
The last time was last week when a consultant told her parents: “She’s reached the end of her life” and wanted them to agree to turn off her life-support. The parents would not agree. Now, the health care providers are seeking a court order to stop her being admitted to the intensive care ward at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales.
2 comments:
New "Right to Life" Case: Amber Hartland
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One of the coveted arguments of the death crews is that people get too old and it is a waste to try to help them. Well this dashes it!
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"When Hazel Homer was 99, more than one doctor advised that there was little to be done about her failing heart except wait for it to fail a final time. But Mrs. Homer was not interested in waiting to die of what many would call old age." So, reports the NY Times, a month before her 100th birthday, Hazel had surgery to implant a specialized pacemaker and defibrillator.
CON: Hazel's surgeon was reluctant to perform the operation at first. “You get a lot of criticism for doing this sort of thing,” he said. “People say it’s not cost-effective, she’s going to die anyway. That’s a fact you deal with in every patient, but particularly in the elderly.” Indeed, many say that "such aggressive treatment for what are euphemistically known as the late elderly can be wasteful and barbaric, warning that the rush to test the limits of technology can give patients false hope and compound their health challenges with surgical complications."
PRO: On the other hand, "[w]ith such rapid growth of centenarians, debate has mounted over how far to go — not to mention how much Medicare money to spend — in providing major medical services to extend already very long lives." Hazel, after all, is now 104.
Medical Efforts to Treat the Very Old
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A useful background document might be the guidance on "Withholding or Withdrawing Life Sustaining Treatment in Children: A Framework for Practice," issued by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The pdf can be downloaded at http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/Publications/Publications-list-by-title (scroll down the alpha list to "W").
This publication canvasses, among other things, the situations where it may be ethical and legal to consider withholding or withdrawal of lifesustaining medical treatment, the legal framework, and the decision-making process.
Thanks.