BMJ 2014;349:g7830 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g7830 (Published 30 December 2014)
Page 1 of 2
News
NEWS Irish judges rule that brain dead pregnant woman should be allowed to die Clare Dyer The BMJ
A brain dead pregnant woman has been taken off life support at a regional hospital in the Republic of Ireland after the country’s High Court ruled that her fetus had no chance of surviving until birth and that the woman should be allowed to die.
seven doctors that the 18 week old fetus would not survive, as its mother’s body was becoming an increasingly lethal environment. After closing arguments from lawyers on Christmas Eve the judges delivered their judgment on 26 December, a national holiday.
The unnamed woman, who is aged 26 and has two children, was declared clinically dead on 3 December after experiencing a head injury in a fall. But doctors refused her family’s pleas to withdraw life support without court sanction, for fear of a lawsuit from antiabortion activists or even a murder charge.
The judges said that the fetus had “nothing but distress and death in prospect” and that the woman’s life support was “being maintained at hugely destructive cost to both her remains and to the feelings and sensitivities of her family and loved ones.”
The case, which has made headlines around the world, sparked a nationwide debate about article 8 of the Irish constitution, which was passed in 1983 after pressure from antiabortion and religious groups in the overwhelmingly Catholic country. Some campaigners and doctors have argued that the amendment, which gives a fetus the same right to life as the mother, should be abolished.
The woman’s father, with the agreement of her partner, brought the case against Ireland’s Health Service Executive. The case went before three judges at the High Court in Dublin on 23 December, and different legal teams represented the woman, her family, the unnamed hospital, and the fetus. The judges—Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, Ms Justice Marie Baker, and Ms Justice Caroline Costello—heard evidence from
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
During the hearing Frances Colreavy, an intensive care specialist, told the judges that she had practised medicine for decades in Ireland and Australia and had never witnessed a clinically dead person being kept alive for so long. The woman’s blood was becoming increasingly toxic, she said. Another expert witness said that the treatment, if not stopped, would go “from the extraordinary to the grotesque.”
They added that it was wrong to continue to deprive her “of dignity in death and subject her father, her partner and her young children to unimaginable distress in a futile exercise which commenced only because of fears held by treating medical specialists of potential legal consequences.” Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g7830 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2014
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2014;349:g7830 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g7830 (Published 30 December 2014)
Page 2 of 2
NEWS
Figure
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 2
News
NEWS Irish judges rule that brain dead pregnant woman should be allowed to die Clare Dyer The BMJ
A brain dead pregnant woman has been taken off life support at a regional hospital in the Republic of Ireland after the country’s High Court ruled that her fetus had no chance of surviving until birth and that the woman should be allowed to die.
seven doctors that the 18 week old fetus would not survive, as its mother’s body was becoming an increasingly lethal environment. After closing arguments from lawyers on Christmas Eve the judges delivered their judgment on 26 December, a national holiday.
The unnamed woman, who is aged 26 and has two children, was declared clinically dead on 3 December after experiencing a head injury in a fall. But doctors refused her family’s pleas to withdraw life support without court sanction, for fear of a lawsuit from antiabortion activists or even a murder charge.
The judges said that the fetus had “nothing but distress and death in prospect” and that the woman’s life support was “being maintained at hugely destructive cost to both her remains and to the feelings and sensitivities of her family and loved ones.”
The case, which has made headlines around the world, sparked a nationwide debate about article 8 of the Irish constitution, which was passed in 1983 after pressure from antiabortion and religious groups in the overwhelmingly Catholic country. Some campaigners and doctors have argued that the amendment, which gives a fetus the same right to life as the mother, should be abolished.
The woman’s father, with the agreement of her partner, brought the case against Ireland’s Health Service Executive. The case went before three judges at the High Court in Dublin on 23 December, and different legal teams represented the woman, her family, the unnamed hospital, and the fetus. The judges—Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, Ms Justice Marie Baker, and Ms Justice Caroline Costello—heard evidence from
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
During the hearing Frances Colreavy, an intensive care specialist, told the judges that she had practised medicine for decades in Ireland and Australia and had never witnessed a clinically dead person being kept alive for so long. The woman’s blood was becoming increasingly toxic, she said. Another expert witness said that the treatment, if not stopped, would go “from the extraordinary to the grotesque.”
They added that it was wrong to continue to deprive her “of dignity in death and subject her father, her partner and her young children to unimaginable distress in a futile exercise which commenced only because of fears held by treating medical specialists of potential legal consequences.” Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g7830 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2014
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2014;349:g7830 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g7830 (Published 30 December 2014)
Page 2 of 2
NEWS
Figure
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
