Court Reserves Decision

A HIGH Court judge reserved his decision yesterday on whether doctors can withdraw treatment from a woman dying from a disease that has already killed her brother.

Eileen Doran, 31, is being treated at Walton Neurological Centre in Liverpool for the incurable brain disease mitochondria cytopathy.

The case was referred to the High Court in London to review an earlier decision allowing them not to resuscitate the woman if she stops breathing.

Mr Justice Coleridge reserved judgment after hearing from relatives of the incurably-ill woman that they were convinced she was not brain dead as doctors have diagnosed.

The hospital says Ms Doran, who is from an Irish travelling family living in Oil Street off the city centre Dock Road is already in a persistent vegetative state and will never improve.

But her father, Peter Doran, 53, told the court that he had seen his daughter respond on most occasions when he visited her.

He said: “Eileen follows me with her eyes. She looks at me.”.

“If her eyes are shut, I will say, ‘ Come on Eileen, girl, open your eyes or I’m going home’. She opens her eyes and I say, ‘ Open them wider’, and she opens them wider.”

It is believed the final ruling will be made next week. But, in the meantime, doctors will be able to decide whether to use antibiotics for certain infections after talks with the family.

The hospital yesterday withdrew their application for a declaration from the court that doctors should withhold potentially life-saving antibiotics should she develop an infection