NewsA UK judge ruled [judgment, PDF] Monday that life sustaining medical treatment is not in the best interest of a severely disabled 11-month-old boy and that doctors could withdraw his life support without the consent of his parents.
Isiah was born on February 18, 2017, by way of an emergency cesarean section. At birth, he did not have an audible heartbeat, no response to stimulation, and no respiratory effort. An expert to the court reported: “This is as near death as it is possible to get and still have heart action started by resuscitation. In former times, he would have been declared a stillbirth.”
The case was brought before the UK’s High Court by the Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust on the grounds that it was not in the best interest of Isaiah to prolong his life. The doctors argued, “If a child is not going to benefit from the treatment, and will not improve, and the ventilation will cause side effects that will cause pain and distress what does Isaiah get out of being ventilated. He is alive, but is it living?”
His parents wanted his treatment to continue on the argument that they had witnessed “slight” stimulus in the form of Isiah’s eyes moving and responsiveness to his family members. They argue that there could be a possibility that they can ween Isiah off his ventilator and breath on his own if his medication is adjusted. They argued that it would be in Isiah’s best interest to be able to be ventilated at home.
The UK Judge decided in favor of Kings College Hospital because he determined, “the continued mechanical ventilation that he requires will merely sustain his [Isiah’s] life with no chance of restoring his health or providing benefit in terms of his prognosis.” The ruling went on to say the continuation of medical treatment would not be in the best interest of Isiah based on the totality of the evidence presented. He expressed his judgement with “profound sadness” and “hopes the parents will be able to derive some small measure of comfort from the knowledge that they have done all that they can for their much loved and cherished son to seek an alternative outcome for Isaiah.”
It is unclear whether Isiah’s parents will seek to appeal the judgement.
