London // A British girl who died after a terminal illness won the right to have her body frozen in an unprecedented ruling, the high court said Friday.
The 14-year-old from London had written to a judge explaining that she wanted a chance to “live longer” after suffering from a rare form of cancer.
She had researched and decided to undergo cryonics, the process by which people’s bodies are frozen in the hope they will be brought back to life with the help of future medical advancements.
“I am only 14 years old and I don’t want to die but I know I am going to,” she wrote to the judge. “I think being cryopreserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up – even in hundreds of years’ time.”
The girl launched legal action to request that her mother, who supported her child’s wishes, be the only person allowed to make decisions about the disposal of her body.
Her parents are divorced and the girl’s father initially objected to his daughter’s plan.
Judge Peter Jackson ruled in the girl’s favour in October after a private hearing at the high court of England and Wales in London.
The girl was too ill to attend the hearing and has since died, with her remains being taken to the United States and cryogenically frozen.
US-based Cryonics Institute said her body arrived at their facility on October 25, approximately eight days after death.
The judge said the youngster had chosen the most basic preservation option at a cost of about £37,000 (Dh168,431).
The case was not reported on before Friday in keeping with the wishes of the teenager, who also asked that no one involved be identified.
Mr Jackson said his decision was based on the dispute between the girl’s parents and the best outcome for the child’s welfare, not on the science, in what he described as an unprecedented ruling.
“It is no surprise this application is the only one of its kind to have come before the courts in this country – and probably anywhere else,” he said. “It is an example of the new questions science poses to the law.”
The judge described the case as a tragic combination of childhood illness and family conflict, while praising the girl for the valiant way she approached the situation.
In her letter to the judge, the girl wrote: “I don’t want to be buried underground. I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they may find a cure for my cancer and wake me up. I want to have this chance.”
Her solicitor, Zoe Fleetwood, said her client called Mr Jackson her hero after being told of the court’s decision shortly before her death.
“By October 6, the girl knew her wishes were going to be followed. That gave her great comfort,” she said.
The girl’s estranged father, who she had not seen for eight years, at first opposed the treatment. He said even if it was successful and his daughter was brought back to life in 200 years, she would probably not find any relatives, might not remember things and would find herself in a different country. “She may be left in a desperate situation,” he said, pointing out that she would still be only 14.
But his view changed and he told the judge he respected the dying girl’s decision. “This is the last and only thing she has asked from me,” he said.
* Agence France-Presse, Associated Press
