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Doctors refused ecstasy transplant

Friday 24 January 1997 00:02 GMT
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Doctors refused to perform a liver transplant on a dying girl because she had admitted experimenting with drugs, her mother told a court yesterday.

Staff at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary denied Michelle Paul the operation on "moral grounds", Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard. Mrs Carolann Paul, 37, claimed that consultant surgeon Hilary Sanfey told her a new liver would cost pounds 60,000 and, by giving one to Michelle, a healthier person would be denied one.

The 15-year-old, from Aberdeen, suffered complete liver failure 17 days after taking half an ecstasy tablet at a rave in a local community centre in 1995.

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