Parents urge High Court to continue life support for their baby son
Parents burst into tears as medics tell High Court they believe baby boy at the centre of life support legal battle is actually already dead
- Karwan Ali, 35, and Shokhan Ali, 28, want doctors to continue treating their son
- Medics claim four-month-old Midrar Ali has suffered ‘brain stem death’
- His family have petitioned the High Court to order treatment to continue
- The hospital claim it is in Midrar’s best interests that all treatment ceases
Doctors say a brain-damaged baby boy at the centre of a High Court life-support treatment dispute has died.
Midrar Ali’s father Karwan Ali, 35, and mother, Shokhan Ali, 28, want specialists at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester to keep providing life-support treatment.
They say their son is growing and should be given more time.
Medics at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust claim that Midrar Ali, pictured, has suffered brain stem death and it is in his best interests that all treatment ceases
Karwan and Shokhan Ali, pictured with baby Midrar and his elder brother, right, is in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust hospital
Midrar’s parents broke down yesterday in the High Court, pictured, after medics said the four-month-old infant was ‘tragically’ dead
But a lawyer representing the trust which runs the hospital has told a judge overseeing the case that ‘tragically’ Midrar is dead.
Barrister Neil Davy, who represents Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, told Mrs Justice Lieven that keeping Midrar’s body connected to a ventilator was not dignified.
The judge was given updates at a preliminary hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Tuesday.
She is due to decide whether life-support treatment should continue after a trial in Preston next week.
Mrs Justice Lieven said the evidence before her was that Midrar, who is nearly four months old, had suffered ‘brain stem death’.
She said the ‘real issue’ she would have to decide was whether the little boy was ‘dead already’.
Mr and Mrs Ali wanted next week’s trial, scheduled to take place on Monday and Tuesday, delayed so that another doctor could examine Midrar.
But Mrs Justice Lieven decided that delay would not be in Midrar’s best interests.
She said three specialists involved in Midrar’s care, plus a specialist from another hospital, had already examined the little boy and concluded that ending life-support treatment was the right option.
‘This is an incredibly tragic case,’ said the judge.
‘My heart absolutely goes out to the parents.’
But she added: ‘The evidence is that Midrar has suffered brain-stem death.’
She went on: ‘The real issue is whether he is dead already.’
Both Midrar’s parents were at Tuesday’s hearing.
Mrs Ali broke down when Mr Davy said Midrar was dead.
Midrar has been receiving life-support treatment in an intensive care unit since shortly after his birth.
Complications during birth led to him being starved of oxygen and suffering brain damage.
Hospital bosses want Mrs Justice Lieven to rule that ending life-support treatment is in Midrar’s best interests.
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