Post by raphael on May 27, 2010 22:56:07 GMT -5
Granted this is in the UK but you get the picture.
Woman with hospital phobia must be forcibly treated for cancer, judge rules
A cancer sufferer is to be forced to have life-saving treatment against her wishes after a landmark court ruling by a High Court judge.
By Martin Beckford, Stephen Adams and Laura Roberts
Published: 10:00PM BST 26 May 2010
Doctors will be allowed to forcibly sedate the 55-year-old woman in her own home and transport her to hospital for surgery. She will then be operated on, despite having asked not to undergo surgery for her cancer, and could then be forced to remain on a hospital ward afterwards.
The case – only the second ever in the little-known Court of Protection to be made public - sparked an intense ethical and legal debate last night.
Experts questioned whether lawyers and doctors should be allowed to over-ride the wishes of patients and whether the use of force was ever justified in providing medical care.
The treatment of the woman was ordered by Sir Nicholas Wall, the President of the Family Division, after surgeons at her local hospital applied for permission to force the surgery upon her. They argued that without surgery upon her advanced cancer of the uterus she would die.
Sir Nicholas agreed to the request by the trust because the woman, who suffers from learning difficulties, was deemed incapable of making a rational decision for herself about whether to have the operation to remove her tumour. She had previously agreed to surgery, only to change her mind and repeatedly refused to turn up for medical appointments, claiming she has a phobia of hospitals and needles.
Last night Liz Sayce, chief executive of Radar, the disability network, said: 'The right to refuse treatment is a cornerstone of human rights and medical ethics, but so too is the duty of care.'The head states that saving the woman's life is right; the heart recoils at the thought of deceiving and compelling her into undergoing a procedure which she does not want.'
She said it would be difficult to deny that the life-saving operation would be in the woman's best interests but the use of force would only be justified if it was established beyond doubt that the patient lacks the mental capacity to comprehend that without it treatment she would die.
'Society, however, must be careful to treat every case individually, and ensure that this case provides no precedent for over-riding the consent of people with learning disabilities in future.'
www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7768577/Woman-with-hospital-phobia-must-be-forcibly-treated-for-cancer-judge-rules.html
A cancer sufferer is to be forced to have life-saving treatment against her wishes after a landmark court ruling by a High Court judge.
By Martin Beckford, Stephen Adams and Laura Roberts
Published: 10:00PM BST 26 May 2010
Doctors will be allowed to forcibly sedate the 55-year-old woman in her own home and transport her to hospital for surgery. She will then be operated on, despite having asked not to undergo surgery for her cancer, and could then be forced to remain on a hospital ward afterwards.
The case – only the second ever in the little-known Court of Protection to be made public - sparked an intense ethical and legal debate last night.
Experts questioned whether lawyers and doctors should be allowed to over-ride the wishes of patients and whether the use of force was ever justified in providing medical care.
The treatment of the woman was ordered by Sir Nicholas Wall, the President of the Family Division, after surgeons at her local hospital applied for permission to force the surgery upon her. They argued that without surgery upon her advanced cancer of the uterus she would die.
Sir Nicholas agreed to the request by the trust because the woman, who suffers from learning difficulties, was deemed incapable of making a rational decision for herself about whether to have the operation to remove her tumour. She had previously agreed to surgery, only to change her mind and repeatedly refused to turn up for medical appointments, claiming she has a phobia of hospitals and needles.
Last night Liz Sayce, chief executive of Radar, the disability network, said: 'The right to refuse treatment is a cornerstone of human rights and medical ethics, but so too is the duty of care.'The head states that saving the woman's life is right; the heart recoils at the thought of deceiving and compelling her into undergoing a procedure which she does not want.'
She said it would be difficult to deny that the life-saving operation would be in the woman's best interests but the use of force would only be justified if it was established beyond doubt that the patient lacks the mental capacity to comprehend that without it treatment she would die.
'Society, however, must be careful to treat every case individually, and ensure that this case provides no precedent for over-riding the consent of people with learning disabilities in future.'
www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7768577/Woman-with-hospital-phobia-must-be-forcibly-treated-for-cancer-judge-rules.html