Doctors in the UK believe that a terminally-ill teenager who has a brain tumour will die within weeks after a judge gave them permission to withhold treatment. The 18-year-old man’s parents wanted chemotherapy to continue and his mother had launched a "passionate" fight "for his life" at a fraught late-night hearing at the Court of Protection in London, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The trust had made an emergency application to the court and asked Mrs Justice Hogg to rule that doctors could lawfully stop providing treatment. A neuro-surgeon told the judge that "active treatment" was "futile", saying the teenager should be allowed to end his life in as much "dignity and comfort" as possible. The judge heard that the teenager had been diagnosed with a brain tumour by the time he was one, and was registered blind.
Doctors said his condition had deteriorated recently and the cancer had spread. They said he could not walk or talk and could only lift his limbs with difficulty. All clinicians involved in his care had concluded that further chemotherapy and neuro-surgical intervention was futile and not in his best interests, the judge was told. But the teenager's parents disagreed, his mother telling the hearing: "I am fighting for my child's life." The mother questioned the neurosurgeon and a cancer specialist who gave evidence at the hearing.
Mrs Justice Hogg said she understood how difficult the situation was for the teenager's parents. But she said she had to base her decision on the evidence and decide what was in the teenager's best interests, and made no criticism of doctors or medical staff. "The evidence shows that (he) is in the last phase of his life," she said. "The doctors … say the time has now come for palliative treatment only." She added: "I am satisfied that chemotherapy should not be resumed."
And she said there should be no resuscitation and no neuro-surgical treatment. She said the teenager should get as much palliative treatment and care as could be offered. The judge had concluded that the teenager lacked the mental capacity to make decisions about treatment, or to litigate.
[link url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11412861/Judge-refuses-mothers-plea-to-treat-terminally-ill-son-saying-he-should-be-allowed-to-die.html?WT.mc_id=e_DM1414&WT.tsrc=email&etype=frontpage&utm_source=email&utm_medium=Edi_FPM_New_2015_02_14&utm_campaign=DM1414"]Full report in The Daily Telegraph[/link]