A terminally ill teenager has won a legal battle against a hospital’s attempt to force her to have a life-saving heart transplant against her will.
Hannah Jones, 13, decided against the surgery, saying she wanted to die with dignity surrounded by family and friends. Her local hospital, Hereford hospital, instigated high court proceedings to remove her, temporarily, from her parents custody to allow the transplant.
Health officials have since abandoned the proceedings, but the teenager, from Marden, Herefordshire, who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia at 5, was forced to plead her case to a child protection officer from her hospital bed.
Her plea was conveyed to barristers at the high court in London who decided she was mature enough to make the decision for herself and the order was thrown out.
