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Parents in Court Fight for Son's Chance of Life

Posted on: Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By TOM PARRY

A DOCTOR caring for a baby at the centre of a right-to-life battle said yesterday the child should be taken off a ventilator and allowed to have a "dignified death".

The consultant backed a plan to remove the tube which allowed the 17-month-old boy to breathe.

He told the High Court that Baby M, who has incurable spinal muscular atrophy, would die within minutes of being disconnected from the machine.

He said: "It is truly in our patient's best interests."

Baby M's parents want their son to have surgery so he can breathe through a hole in his windpipe and they can take him home.

But the doctor, identified only as Doctor S, said carrying out surgery would cause more distress to the child and "prolong his suffering".

He added: "We are talking about the best way of ensuring our patient's death is pain-free - a dignified death".

The court heard Baby M, from the North of England, is severely paralysed and cannot breathe unaided.

He cannot chew or swallow and is fed through a tube.

He can open his eyelids and see but can only move his feet and fingers very slightly. But he is not mentally impaired. If he lives, experts at his NHS hospital agree he will soon be totally paralysed and unable to open his eyes.

Another doctor at the hospital told the court: "He has an intolerable life."

The court has banned identification of all parties.

Speaking before the hearing, the mother, who has two older children, said: "We want our son to have a tracheotomy so we could take him home and give him a life."

But Dr S told the court: "There is a consensus among doctors that children with this severity of condition should not be ventilated and lives should not be prolonged. It is not in their interests." The case is similar to that of two-year-old Charlotte Wyatt, who has been severely disabled since birth.

In February, a High Court judge ruled hospital doctors could let Charlotte die.

In yesterday's case, the hospital's argument was based on the Law Lords' 1993 ruling over Hillsborough victim Tony Bland, 22, who was left in a permanent vegetative state.

His parents won a legal battle to remove their son's feeding tube and allow him to die.

Guidelines introduced in 2002 mean doctors can halt artificial feeding for patients suffering from other conditions without going to court. If the family disagrees, the High Court decides.

The case continues.

tom.parry@mirror.co.uk

Source: Daily Mirror

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