Drugs girl, 15 died after transplant was refused

BY GILLIAN BOWDITCH, SCOTLAND
CORRESPONDENT

A girl aged 15 died after she was refused a liver transplant by doctors on the "moral grounds" that she had experimented with drugs and her mother was a drug user, an inquiry was told yesterday.

Carolann Paul, 37, told a fatal accident inquiry that doctors at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary told her that her daughter would die without a transplant. She was then told by Dr Mall Finlayson that a team decision had been made not to give Michelle a transplant.

Mrs Paul said: "He said the assessment had been made on moral grounds but added that it was not his decision. I asked if that meant her background and he said her background and her admitting that she had been experimenting with drugs and my own history.

I knew Michelle had acted irresponsibly by experimenting with drugs but knew that, when she woke up with the reality of what it could do to her she would take care of herself," she said.

Mrs Paul said that Dr Finlayson then offered to arrange a meeting with the consultant, Hilary Sanfey, and had told Mrs Paul that while he was in favour of a transplant, he was not a surgeon and could not make a surgeon operate.

Mrs Paul claimed that Dr Sanfey was abrupt and certainly not compassionate. "She told me it cost _60,000 for a liver and, if they gave it to Michelle, they would be denying someone else.

"She said she believed Michelle was now medically unfit. When I asked her about the moral dec~s~on she said 'You are not listening to me. I said your daughter is now medically unfit. I am not giving her a transplant and that's final', then she walked out."

Mrs Paul's evidence was backed up by her family doctor, I3r John Wiseman' who told the inquiry at Aberdeen Sheriff Court that he had written to the hospital asking why she had been turned down but received no reply. A subsequent phone call from the transplant unit had informed him that there were concerns about post-transplant care because of the family history of drug abuse. Dr Wiseman said he believed Michelle should have received a transplant.

Michelle suffered liver failure in November 1995, 13 days after taking drugs, including Ecstasy at a local rave. She died six days after being admitted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's transplant unit.

Mrs Paul visited Michelle five days after she was taken to hospital. When I was approaching the ward I heard a hysterical, fearful scream and I knew it was Michelle," Mrs Paul said.

January 24 1997
The Times, Britain