Parents battle doctors to keep their seriously ill child alive
Written by News on 16/09/2019
The parents of a six-year-old girl on life support are waging a battle with the doctors treating her to prevent her being moved to palliative care.
The girl’s parents are both doctors themselves and are disputing an application to take her off life support by the NHS trust responsible for her care.
The trust is taking the matter to the High Court and the trial will begin on Thursday.
A barrister representing the trust says the girl, who judges have ruled cannot be named in media reports, has a “severe and progressive life-limiting neuro-degenerative disorder” and “end-stage respiratory failure”.
Claire Watson said the girl’s condition was terminal and meant she could not “communicate verbally”.
The child’s parents do not want her life support treatment to stop and say she can communicate using her eyes.
Sophia Roper, who is representing the parents in court, said relations between the parents and doctors had “irretrievably broken down”.
Other similar cases involving the parents of seriously ill children and NHS trusts have attracted attention.
It has encouraged discussion about what is in a child’s best interests and who should get to decide when to stop treatment.
Three other children – Charlie Gard, Alfie Evans and Isaiah Haastrup – died after judges ruled that doctors should stop their treatment.
A judge is yet to rule on the case of five-year-old Tafida Raqeeb, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in February and who experts believe has no chance of recovery.
Her parents, Shelina Begum and Mohammed Raqeeb, want to try a treatment in Italy which has been offered to the child.
(c) Sky News 2019: Parents battle doctors to keep their seriously ill child alive
