Health: The Hardest Choice 健康：最难的抉择
[audio]http://www.24en.com/bbc/dl_mp3/bbc_the_hardest_choice.mp3[/audio][color=#3f3f3f][font=Verdana, 宋体, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=12px]How would you cope if you had a[b]terminal illness[/b]? What if your son or daughter had no hope of ever having a normal life due to a [b]life-threatening condition[/b]?
[p=21, 2, left]In the UK, the question of [b]assisted suicide[/b] or [b]refusing medical treatment[/b]is extremely [b]divisive[/b] and [b]controversial[/b];[b]euthanasia[/b] is illegal in Britain, as is the act of helping a terminally-ill person to kill themselves.[/p][p=21, 2, left]However, a 13-year-old English girl has won the right to refuse medical treatment this week after a hospital dropped a [b]legal bid[/b] to force her to have a [b]heart transplant[/b].[/p][p=21, 2, left]Hannah Jones, who has spent eight years in and out of hospital battling[b]leukaemia[/b] and heart problems, told [b]child protection officers[/b] she wanted to die with [b]dignity[/b] rather than face the [b]operation[/b] and have to take constant medication afterwards.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Despite initial efforts by her local [b]health authority[/b] to remove Hannah from her family and force her to [b]undergo[/b] the transplant, legal and medical experts said that a child of her age was able to make an informed decision to refuse treatment.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Hannah’s decision to stop treatment and spend the rest of her life at home with her family was made entirely by herself, according to her father, who spoke of his [b]admiration[/b] for her.[/p][p=21, 2, left]"Hannah made that decision consciously on her own, a bit like a[b] grown up[/b], even though she was only 12 at the time, and she has [b]maintained[/b]that decision," said Andrew Jones.[/p][p=21, 2, left]The headmaster of Hannah’s school described her as intelligent and capable of making her own decisions.[/p][p=21, 2, left]"Her presence is a [b]source of inspiration[/b] to us all through the [b]courage[/b]and dignity that she displays," he said.[/p][/size][/font][/color]
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