One-year-old baby left brain damaged in bath tragedy can have Newcastle hospital ventilator removed
A one-year-old boy who suffered a 'profound' brain injury after he was found face down in the bath can have his ventilator removed, after Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust asked the High Court to declare it to be in his best interest.
In what Mr Justice Hayden described as 'a tragedy of almost immeasurable dimension', the boy - known only as H - sustained the brain injury in June last year.
During a three-day hearing earlier this month, the court heard that H was wearing an inflatable device in the bath when his mother left the room to get a towel.
When his father re-entered the room, he found the then four-month face down in the bath with no pulse.
The court was told that H was taken to hospital but went at least 29 minutes before his heart restarted, which resulted in a significant brain injury due to the lack of oxygen.
H has been on a ventilator for eight months and cannot successfully breathe for himself.
His brain injury was so severe that ongoing intensive care would not increase his chances of recovery or lead to him going home with his family, the court heard.
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - which is treating H - had asked the High Court to declare it is in the boy's best interests for his mechanical ventilation to be withdrawn.
The boy's parents, known as Mrs A and Mr B, had argued that there were signs of improvement in H's condition, including that their son continues to grow and responds to touch, and they asked for more time.
However, one doctor told the court it was "unlikely that H experiences either pain or pleasure".
In a judgement published on Tuesday (8 March), Mr Justice Hayden found it was in H's best interest for his ventilation to be stopped.
Mr Justice Hayden said the changes were "understandably misinterpreted as indicators of recovery by parents, suffused with inexhaustible hope", and praised the couple for their "enormous devotion" to their son.
He added that H had been "a healthy, happy little boy" prior to the incident but that H's "devastating" brain injury means that he has a "vanishingly small prospect of survival."
"He was much wanted and much loved by them and by the wider family. What occurred was a tragedy of almost immeasurable dimension, he continued.
"I have no doubt, that on an intellectual level, both understand what has happened to their son, but on an emotional level, they simply cannot absorb it."
Mr Justice Hayden found that H's treatment is "futile and burdensome," and said: "The quality of H's life is reflected only in the love and care that has been showered upon him, whilst every effort has been made to treat him effectively.
"It is now clear that there is no such treatment and accordingly, his dignity threatens to be compromised."