S2 E176-A New Low For English Healthcare

Notes & Links

An English hospital used the court system to have a 19-year-old woman with a rare disorder declared mentally unfit to make her own medical decisions. The court even banned the young lady known as ST from going to the press to voice her story. The court also banned her and her family from using her name.  The young lady was fighting the hospital’s decision to end her treatment and to pursue end of life care.  ST had a rare genetic mitochondrial disease and was in intensive care because there is no cure for the disease.  When ST challenged the hospital’s decision and wanted to try an experimental treatment in Canada, the hospital took her to court and had her declared mentally unfit.

Fiorella breaks down this story. She discusses how the court system is rigged in favor of hospitals and how the hospitals will use the system if their patients questions their diagnosis or treatments. So the question of the day is do you really live in a free society when a hospital can make all of your health choices?

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About the author

Fiorella Nash

Fiorella Nash lives in England with her husband, four children and a dog. She is a writer of murder mysteries and historical fiction, a literary critic and an incorrigible bibliophile. Went to convent school. BA and MPhil in English literature from Cambridge, specialised in the English verse of Robert Southwell SJ. Did you know: Fiorella worked as a researcher in bioethics for a London-based NGO for 15 years.

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