‘Nothing but death’ in future for baby

Artificial life support for a brain dead woman and the unborn baby in her womb is to be switched off by order of a three-judge divisional court of the High Court.

High Court President Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said he and his colleagues, Ms Justice Marie Baker and Ms Justice Caroline Costello had concluded that, in the best interest of the 18-week-old foetus, they should authorise withdrawal of somatic support at the discretion of the medical team.

“This unfortunate unborn has suffered the dreadful fate of being present in the womb of a mother who has died and in which the environment is neither safe nor stable and which is failing at an alarming rate,” the judges stated in their reserved judgment.