Posted on 03/03/2006 9:01:28 PM PST by ARAD
Ruling due on right-to-life baby A High Court judge is to decide whether life-saving treatment can be withdrawn from a baby at the centre of a landmark right-to-life case.
Baby MB, who cannot be named, has spinal muscular atrophy - a genetic condition which leads to almost total paralysis - and cannot breathe unaided.
His family says he responds to them and ought to be allowed to stay alive.
Doctors say his quality of life is so poor it is in his best interests to let him die. The case continues on Monday.
We are hopeful we can persuade the court that his quality of life is good enough so that treatment should not be withdrawn Baby MB's mother
The judge Mr Justice Holman said the case was potentially a landmark one as it was the first time a court had been asked to make a life or death ruling on a child who has near or full cognitive function.
An injunction preventing any details of the case being reported was lifted after representations by BBC lawyers.
However, an order bans the identification of the child and the hospital trust involved in the case.
Baby MB, who is 17 months old, cannot chew or swallow and is fed through a tube.
He is not mentally impaired but can move only his eyebrows, feet and fingers slightly. The rest of his body is immobile.
'Die rapidly'
His incurable condition is set to lead to almost full paralysis.
Doctors at the hospital where he is being cared for have made an application to withdraw ventilation from him.
But his parents feel he can recognise and respond to them and that the time he spends with his family every day gives him a reasonable quality of life.
They want him to have an operation involving making an incision in the windpipe to enable him to breathe alone.
'Worthwhile existence'
His mother said: "We want our son to have a tracheotomy so we could take him home and give him a life, instead of being stuck in a hospital.
"We are hopeful we can persuade the court that his quality of life is good enough so that treatment should not be withdrawn."
The family's lawyer said the parents wanted "everything possible to be done for their child as long as he is not in great distress and has a worthwhile existence".
Mr Holman said he welcomed the BBC's application for the case to be heard in open court.
He said: "This case concerns a baby who requires constant ventilation and would die rapidly if it was removed.
"It's believed he can see and react to what he sees and react to what he hears, and there's some evidence he responds to commands."
"It may be this is the first time a case has come before the courts on discontinuing life support and causing immediate death of a patient who may have some cognitive ability," he added.
Anita Macaulay, chief executive of the Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, whose daughter died from the disease, said the case must be a dreadful dilemma for the parents and the doctors involved.
Hopes
She said: "I know what it is like to battle and fight and pin your hopes on something happening.
"You would feel like you were letting your children down if you didn't."
She added that pioneering work in the US had led to some children living at home with a relatively good quality of life until the age of seven or eight and beyond.
She also said that drug trials due to start in the UK within the next 12 months signalled a glimmer of hope for sufferers.
The hearing began on Wednesday and is taking place in private in the family division of the High Court but restrictions on reporting the details of the case have been lifted by the judge.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a recessive genetic condition passed to a baby when both its parents carry a certain gene.
There is a one in 40 chance of having that gene and a one in 6,400 chance of being born with any form of the condition.
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/4770154.stm
Published: 2006/03/03 18:55:32 GMT
© BBC MMVI
Sigh.
The doctors don't know what to do, so they bump the ethical decisions to politicians who have no ethical standards, while the government and the medical community keeps an open mind, unless they don't get paid taxpayer funds for their services.
Sigh.
The judge is god now. He decides what innocent life and live and what innocent life must be killed.
prayers for this little child and his family.
Mrs VS
bump for you
Thanks, I will ping.
Prayers needed for all!
Heaven help the U.K. should it be attacked with bio-terrorism, with those lack of eithics, the government and doctors will let everyone die before they do anything.
We were all told by the naysayers that this march towards acceptance of euthanasia would stop with Terri, but I see it has only expanded. How can we get off this horrible, amoral merry-go-round? We need to move in the opposite direction. Is nothing sacred anymore?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.