Hospital may withhold life-saving treatment from severely disabled boy, court rules

The President of the High Court has today ruled that a hospital may withhold life saving treatment from a six-year-old boy who suffers permanent disabilities after nearly drowning.

High Court President Justice Nicholas Kearns has found that if the child's condition deteriorates doctors are not obliged to carry out invasive treatment.

The boy at the centre of this case nearly drowned when he was just short of two years' old.

As a result of this accident, he is severely disabled with spastic quadriplegia.

He is also blind, fed through a tube and is not thought to have any hope of recovery.

He is a ward of court and lives in a children's home, but has been brought in to hospital on several occasions and there are fears his situation could deteriorate at any time.

The hospital applied to court for instructions on resuscitation which would involve invasive ventilation treatment.

The boy's father suggested stem cell treatment, but Justice Kearns noted that was illegal here and in the US and offered no long-term prospect of improving his condition.

He called it a tragic case but one where the medical evidence was that incubating and ventilating this boy was not in his best interests as it would involve unnecessary pain and would be futile.