What a brave young lady.

I'm glad that the courts sided with her. It's absurd that the hospital would go to court in something which is a family matter.

Only remotely unrelated...what do they mean, they can't go to Disney land because they can't find travel insurance for her? Is that a requirement?

It bugs me when a news article leaves holes in the story (no pun intended, really). It makes no mention of what her quality of life would be AFTER the surgery or if this would just prolong her agony for a few more years.

If there is one thing I've learned from working with early teens is that they have NO concept about future results beyond a few months and only care about now. Hence the high rate of teen suicide over BS that happens in high school...not realizing that 10 years from now school BS will be a distant memory.

Anyway..I'd be on her side if the docs thought the surgery would only give her a few more years, but they don't normally give new hearts to people who won't be around long to use them. Which leads me to believe she has a long future in which case maybe the courts SHOULD step in...a 13 year old wouldn't understand it enough IMO.

Being from England I'm sure in order to travel to the states they require you to have some form of insurance that can be used In the states. Not all foreign insurance is accepted in the US. I have friends from Australia that have to have it in order to come visit there own family in the US.

Given her mom is an ICU nurse, I'm fairly sure her parents do know what the odds are for her to have a healthy future and have shared that info with her.

There's no word on whether the treatments cured her leukemia.

We don't let 13 year olds:

Drive
Smoke
Vote
Drink
Go to rated R movies
Buy spray paint/airplane glue/whipped cream/cough syrup/guns/knives

But they can be held responsible enough to weigh the decision that they want to die?

Maybe they SHOULD be allowed to do those things... some of them, anyway.

edit: for some reason I wasn't totally processing the age. yeah, 13 is pretty young to do any of those things/decide something like this.

She is apparently in remission but would risk relapse after a heart transplant due to the anti-rejection drugs.. Heart transplant patients have an average life expectancy of 10 years, but it is an arduous and unpredictable path. I agree she is a very brave girl, and I'm glad her wishes are being respected.

I thought that since hearts were in short supply, they didn't usually give them to patients who were so sick with other illnesses that they would die anyway. If the anti-rejection drugs would bring back her leukemia, the heart would be wasted.

IMO a 13 year old is typically immature and not capable of making decisions that hold such immense repercussions.

However, she is not a typical 13 year old. She has literally stared death in the face with her illness. I am sure that this experience has given her maturity beyond her years. I seriously doubt that she has experimented with any whippets of late.

I would put cash money down that her answer was weighed with courage that I am not sure I myself possess.