Heart Disease In The News

Major British hospital faulted for pediatric heart care
April 10, 2001

According to a recently-released report from an independent panel, pediatric cardiologists at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London failed to make appropriate recommendations to parents of children with congenital heart disease, particularly children with Down's Syndrome. 

The report cited in particular the doctors' reluctance to recommend heart surgery for atrioventricular septal defect, a condition for which surgery is widely held to be the best option.  The report went on to speculate that doctors seemed to be more concerned for how parents would be able to cope with disabled children than they were with what was in the best interests of the patients themselves. The report stopped just short of accusing doctors of discriminating against Down's children.

Brompton's hospital responded that they intend to accept the recommendations made by the panel to ameliorate the perceived shortcomings. 

Those who have frequented the About Heart Disease Forum, where several of our members have described their experiences with Canadian and British national health services, will likely not be surprised by the findings of this independent panel.

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