Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeMedico-LegalNew mother to be taken off life support against family's wishes

New mother to be taken off life support against family's wishes

A woman in her early 30s, who has COVID-19 and is in an induced coma following the birth of a son a month ago, should be allowed to die against her family's wishes, a British judge has decided.

According to a Daily Mail report, Justice Hayden ruled that doctors can lawfully stop providing life-support treatment to the woman, who has an underlying health condition and is in an induced coma.

A specialist told him that everything had been tried and the woman's chances of recovery were “zero”.

The judge considered the case at an urgent virtual hearing in the Court of Protection, where issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves are analysed. He said the woman, a Muslim who was married and also had a daughter, could not be named.

Management at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust had asked him to rule that ending life-support treatment would be in the woman's best interests.

The woman's husband and sister said she should be given more time and treatment should continue. They said Muslims believed that only God could end life.

But the judge said evidence showed that doctors were no longer preserving the woman's life, but prolonging her death. Hayden said the woman's “life and hopes” had been extinguished by “this insidious virus”, and a young family “split apart prematurely”. He added that doctors had prepared a palliative care plan and the woman's family would be able to see her.

 

[link url="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9292963/Woman-30s-gave-birth-month-contracting-Covid-allowed-die-judge-rules.html"]Full Daily Mail report (Open access)[/link]

Court of Protection judgment not yet available online (2 March 2021)

MedicalBrief — our free weekly e-newsletter

We'd appreciate as much information as possible, however only an email address is required.