Free Lawyers for Parents in Medical Futility Conflicts

The family of five-year-old Tafida Raqeeb, whose parents won a landmark court case to stop her life support being switched off, are calling for a change in British law to provide free legal advice for those who disagree with their doctors’ decision to end their child’s life. At present only parents with “exceptionally limited” financial resources can get help if they want to challenge a decision on their child’s treatment. The parents of Tafida — and others such as the parents of Charlie Gard, find themselves having to use crowdfunding to pay their legal fees. This push in the UK parallels ongoing developments in the Texas courts and Texas legislature to improve the procedural due process protections in that state's dispute resolution process for conflicts over life-sustaining treatment.
Source: blog.bioethics.net - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs