Family in legal battle with NHS trust ask judge to keep woman’s life support on

The family of a mother-of-three who is on life support in hospital have asked a judge to give her more time to “keep carrying on fighting” amid a legal battle over whether her treatment should stop.

The woman, known as HX for legal reasons, suffered a severe brain injury following a cardiac arrest in July this year and has since remained in intensive care, needing support to breathe, eat and drink.

The Northumberland Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for her care, has now applied to the Court of Protection, a specialist family court, to rule that it is no longer in her best interests to continue the treatment keeping her alive.

But at a three-day hearing in London which began on Wednesday, HX’s mother and son – who also cannot be identified – both told a judge that she should be given more time to potentially recover.

Her mother said: “She is a lovely person, kind, generous, she would help anybody, she is a good person.

“She told me… that if anything happened to her to do CPR on her, keep carrying on fighting for life and to keep her alive.

“I would like you to keep the treatment going because I think it is too early.

“I want you to give her more time to see if she can respond.”

Her son said: “She would hate the idea of palliative care. She would hate for someone to help her along her way, (and) that if she would die, she would die of her own accord.

“Her belief was the only person that could take life and give life was God.”

The son told the court that his mother would want treatment “regardless of the outcome” and that doctors should postpone their decision on whether treatment should stop until at least January next year.

Nicola Kohn, representing the son, said in written submissions that the trust’s application was “precipitously made and inappropriate at the current time”, and went against HX’s “previously expressed wishes and her best interests”.

She added that the son believed that his mother’s condition had improved and may continue to do so.

In court, she said: “He believes, slim though the prospects of recovery are, she would want every opportunity to survive.”

The case is the first time the trust has gone to the Court of Protection for such a ruling, with a doctor stating that medics “always endeavour to reach a consensus decision” with patients’ families in similar cases.

Ben Harrison, representing the trust, said it was a “tragic case” and that it was expected that HX would be diagnosed as being in a “minimally conscious” state within two months, adding in written submissions that she was currently in a “prolonged disorder of consciousness”.

The court heard that as a result, her clinicians had concluded “clearly, albeit reluctantly” that treatment should be discontinued.

He said: “Her condition is such that she will not reach a point in her rehabilitation that her life will be meaningful to her.”

He continued: “Whether the extra time offered is two weeks or six months, there is no chance of recovery.

“No treatment will cure the global brain damage that has already occurred.”

A doctor treating HX told the court that her prognosis was “grave and likely terminal”, with another stating that 12 consultants caring for her “speak with one voice” in support of stopping treatment.

Mr Justice Cusworth will give his ruling in writing at a later date.