Seven-month-old infant may have to be removed from life support, court hears

A seven-month-old infant may have to be removed from breathing support by doctors and allowed to die, a specialist family court has heard.

The child, known as C, is being kept alive by a ventilator under the care of a trust in the north of England and has been there since August 28.

Doctors have been unable to reach an agreement with C’s parents on whether continued treatment is in the child’s best interests, and have taken the case to the Court of Protection in London for a judge to rule on the matter.

At the hearing on Thursday, Katie Scott, for the NHS trust responsible for C’s care, said in written submissions that C suffered a “prolonged out-of-hospital cardiac arrest” and was found “blue, floppy and unresponsive” while being breast-fed by his mother.

He suffered a brain injury and is now unable to cough or gag to clear his airways, she added.

The court was told that when doctors tried to remove the ventilation, they found C’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels dropped to dangerous levels.

They also tried unsuccessfully to lower the ventilator’s lower settings and have concluded that remaining on life support is not in C’s best interest.

Ms Scott said the trust, along with 12 other paediatric experts that were consulted, agreed that long-term ventilation or a tracheostomy, opening the windpipe with a tube, would not be appropriate.

Doctors have identified only two options: that C remains on “invasive ventilation” or has it removed, in which case it is “unlikely that C will be able to breathe sufficiently to support his life for any significant period of time, albeit he may live for some hours or even days”, Ms Scott said.

A final hearing in the case is expected to be held on May 1.