There have been two recent cases when the Courts had to deal with the very difficult issue of whether a child should be allowed to die against their parents wishes.
In the first case NHS Trust v Baby X [2012] EWHC 2188 (Fam) Mr Justice Hedley ruled that the hospital were permitted to turn off the life support machine of a brain damaged and comatose one year old. This was completely against the wishes of the child’s family.
The second case (as yet legally unreported but in the media) concerned a chronically ill eight year old who needs every increasing sedation while a life support machine has taken over his entire lung and heart function. The hospital gave evidence that there is no hope of his recovery, that further treatment is futile and there is every possibility of an increasingly painful death. In this case Mr Justice Ryder gave consent “with a heavy heart” to the hospital removing him from the life support machine against his parents’ wishes who wanted more time. His decision focused on the quality of the child’s life approaching death saying that the miracle the parents wanted was not going to happen.
In both these cases the Judges were extremely experienced family Judges who were faced with extremely difficult and agonising decisions. The Courts are having to deal with many cases concerning life and death both in relation to children and adults which is distressing for everyone.