Doctors given permission to limit life support for baby with brain damage
Specialists have been given permission to limit the life support treatment they give to a baby who suffered brain damage shortly after being born prematurely.
A High Court judge has approved a care plan which doctors hope will allow the six-month-old boy to have a “dignified life” and a “dignified death”.
Mr Justice Baker said on Monday that the little boy’s parents had agreed to a plan put forward by doctors after fighting hard to ensure that “every possible treatment” was made available.
Doctors had become concerned that there was nothing they could do to reverse the effects of brain damage and that life-support treatment was causing the little boy to suffer.
The judge said the baby’s parents had found themselves in a predicament which “all parents dread”.
He said he had “profound sympathy”.
Mr Justice Baker published a ruling on the case on Monday after analysing evidence over the telephone at an out-of-hours hearing in the Family Division of the High Court a few days ago.
The judge, who is based in London, has not identified anyone involved - although he indicated that the little boy was being cared for at a hospital in Wales.
