Hospital can withhold invasive treatments to avoid 'unimaginable suffering' for brain-injured boy

Ms Justice Irvine said this application could “hardly be more important” as it concerned the life and well-being of a “most precious” boy who suffered catastrophic injuries in a “desperately tragic” road accident last summer and the bond of “immense love” that binds him to his parents and siblings.

A hospital is entitled to withhold invasive interventions and effectively administer a palliative care regime to a profoundly brain-injured boy should his condition substantially deteriorate, the president of the High Court has ruled.

The boy - a ward of court referred to as John - could experience “unimaginable suffering” unless the hospital can manage his condition as it considers appropriate, Ms Justice Mary Irvine concluded.