Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Reflecting On “Hannah’s Choice”: Using The Ethics Of Care To Justify Child Participation In End Of Life Decision-making

Abstract

It has been ten years since the case of Hannah Jones – the 12 year-old girl who was permitted to refuse a potentially life-saving heart transplant. In the past decade, there has been some progress within law and policy in respect of children’s participatory rights (UNCRC – Art 12), and a greater understanding of family centred decision-making. However, the courts still largely maintain their traditional reluctance to find children Gillick competent to refuse medical treatment. In this paper I revisit Hannah’s case through the narrative account provided by Hannah and her mother, to ascertain what lessons can be learnt. I use an Ethics of Care framework specially developed for children in mid-childhood, such as Hannah, to argue for more a creative and holistic approach to child decision-making in healthcare. I conclude that using traditional paradigms is untenable in the context of palliative care and at the end of life, and that the law should be able to accommodate greater, and even determinative, participation of children who are facing their own deaths.

Acceptance Date Mar 20, 2019
Publication Date Jun 29, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Medical Law Review
Print ISSN 0967-0742
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 124-154
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwz011
Keywords children, decision-making, end-of-life, ethics of care, gillick competence, treatment refusal
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwz011

Files




Downloadable Citations