Clinical ethics committee case 7: our young patient is in heart failure but has multiple co-morbidities. How can we best care for him and his family?

The Case Studies Editor is a member of the Bath Clinical Ethics Committee. She attended this meeting as a representative of Clinical Ethics

See: UK Transplant, Donor Organ Sharing Scheme Operating Principles for Cardiothoracic Transplant Units in the UK and Republic of Ireland: ‘Allocation of Hearts to Paediatric Urgent Patients’. http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/about_transplants/organ_allocation/cardiothoracic/cardiothoracic_organ_sharing_prin-ciples/cardiothoracic_organ_sharing_principles.jsp#c5 (last checked 24 April 2009)

PEG stands for ‘percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.’ A PEG tube is a feeding tube that has been placed into the stomach via a minimally invasive abdominal incision. They are used to feed patients who cannot swallow

Ethics Department, British Medical Association. The Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on Medical Decision Making. 2007. London: BMA. Available at: http://www.bma.org.uk/health_promotion_ethics/human_rights/HumanRightsAct.jsp (last checked 26 February 2009)