Parents' court plea to continue girl's ventilator treatment

The parents of a girl with an incurable condition have argued in court for her treatment not to be withdrawn.

At a High Court hearing in London, medical specialists said the six-year-old was dying from a rare neurological condition and was on a ventilator.

Lawyers acting for Birmingham Women and Children's Hospital, where she is being treated, said treatment was no longer in her best interests.

Her parents argue her ventilation should continue at home.

The case is being heard by Mr Justice Hayden who in July ruled that doctors could stop providing life support treatment for 12-year-old Archie Battersbee.

The court heard the girl, who cannot be identified, had been born in Lebanon after her parents left Syria as refugees. Her condition developed about four years ago, after the family arrived in England.

Nageena Khalique QC, representing the hospital trust, said the child could no longer walk, sit or stand and had spent two-thirds of this year on a ventilator in an intensive care unit.

"This is a very cruel condition," she said. "There is no cure.

"We have now come to a stage where the trust no longer thinks that it is in [the girl's] best interests to continue giving her invasive ventilatory support."

Her family accepts the girl will not recover but have submitted that her treatment should continue or they be allowed to try long-term, at-home ventilation.

"[They] feel confident that they would be able to sustain [her] at home, with periodic hospital admissions, whilst the long-term ventilation is established," their barrister, Ian Brownhill, told the judge.

The proceedings are due to conclude on Wednesday.

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