Published 24 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1249
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1249

News

Brain damaged baby dies after court rules that his ventilator may be turned off

Clare Dyer

1 BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A chronically ill 9 month old boy at the centre of a battle between his parents and doctors died last week after judges ruled that he should be taken off the ventilator keeping him alive.

The baby, who was known only as OT to protect his identity, died after two judges in the Court of Appeal in London last week upheld a ruling by a High Court judge that it was in his best interests to be allowed to die.

The baby, born with mitochondrial disorder, was brain damaged and unable to breathe or swallow unaided. Doctors told the court that his suffering was intolerable, but his parents insisted that he experienced pleasure and had long periods without pain.

A doctor told the High Court at a hearing last month that he understood that the parents got pleasure from interacting with their son. But he added: "How much pain and . . . [Full text of this article]


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