UK's Healthcare Setup Partly Blamed in 'Baby Charlotte' Saga
by Mary Rettig
April 29, 2005
(AgapePress) - A British court recently upheld a court order that an 18-month-old girl should be allowed to die, despite her parents' wishes to keep her alive. An official with a Christian medical group says the UK's socialist-style healthcare system is partly to blame.The toddler, known as "Baby Charlotte," was born prematurely, weighing just one pound and measuring only five inches, with serious brain, lung, and kidney damage. She suffers from severe breathing problems, although earlier this year there was evidence that her breathing is becoming stronger and she is less dependent on an oxygen supply. Her parents, both committed Christians, believe in preserving life at any cost; but a British judge said doctors do not have to resuscitate Charlotte if she stops breathing.
Dr. David Stevens with the Christian Medical & Dental Associations says although euthanasia is illegal in Britain, that does not change the control doctors are given. He explains that England has a national health service that provides free healthcare to British citizens. Essentially, he says, that results in a "single-party payer" of medical costs.
"In other words, the government's paying all the bills and dictates all the policies, which makes it quite different than here in the U.S.," Stevens says. "In the U.S., if a doctor was taking care of a patient and thought that some intervention was futile and should not be continued but the family disagreed, you could always transfer the care to another physician or another hospital."
The question, says Stevens, is whether physicians can override the wishes of the parents. "In England that is possible," he explains, "and increasingly in this country we're seeing that concern rise because a lot of things increasingly are being defined as 'futile care.'"
And once something is defined as being a "futile" therapy, Stevens notes, the doctor has no obligation to continue it. The CMDA spokesman acknowledges that while there is such a thing as futile care -- such as when all that is being done is prolonging the dying process -- this is not the case with Baby Charlotte who, although handicapped, has shown marked improvement.
But Stevens says in this situation, everything is run by the government -- so there is no other option for the parents other than to appeal the judge's ruling.
According to a BBC News report, under the British medical system, doctors can refuse to treat a person if they feel the treatment serves no purpose or if the quality of life is deemed to be so low that it is not in the patient's interest. But if the family and doctors disagree, it is left to the High Court to decide.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
