Scottish court will rule on withdrawing treatment

Doctors in Scotland have been told that they will not face prosecution if they withdraw treatment from patients in a persistent vegetative state with the sanction of the court. The policy statement from the Lord Advocate, Lord Mackay of Drumadoon, paves the way for doctors at Law Hospital, Carluke, Lanarkshire, to stop artificially feeding Janet Johnston, aged 53, if the Court of Session in Edinburgh gives permission next week. Five senior judges in the court's inner house held last month …