Hospital cleared to end life-support for brain-damaged baby

A Dublin maternity hospital has secured a High Court order letting it withdraw life-sustaining treatment from a severely brain-damaged newborn whose young mother died shortly after delivering him.

The mother was 39 weeks pregnant and in cardiac arrest when she arrived at the hospital by ambulance on Tuesday and required resuscitation, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, was told at a sitting last night.

The baby boy was delivered by an emergency Caesarean and the mother was then transferred to the intensive care unit in another hospital, the judge heard. Her condition was critical and a decision to withdraw treatment was made. She died shortly afterwards.