The truth behind tragedy of Child B

VENOMOUS disagreements between the cancer specialists involved in the care of Child B, the 10-year-old girl who became the centre of worldwide media attention after the National Health Service refused to fund a second bone-marrow transplant for her leukaemia, are revealed in a report published today.

The first detailed study of the case, which was presented as the worst example of NHS rationing when it occurred in 1995, shows a bitter dispute between the paediatricians who felt she should be allowed to die in peace and the adult leukaemia specialists prepared to buy more time at any cost.

Child B, later identified as Jaymee Bowen, who died in May 1996, won the hearts of millions when she was shown on a BBC Panorama programme in October 1995 delivering a crushing riposte to the managers of Cambridge Health Authority for refusing to fund the pounds 75,000 cost of her extra treatment.

"Thank you for nothing. Because now look at me, I'm fine. You could have paid for it. You had the chance and you blew it,'' she said.

The report, published by the King's Fund, says: "The central issue was less to do with finance than what care was appropriate for a child with Jaymee's medical history." The paediatricians at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge, and the Royal Marsden in London attacked the "maverick medicine" practised at Hammersmith hospital and the private Portman clinic in London, where she was finally treated, saying that they were prepared to go ahead whatever the human cost. The adult specialists in turn castigated the "paediatric mafia" with their conservative and inflexible attitudes.

Jaymee's last days, page 16

Leading article, page 18