TS & DS v Sydney Children's Hospital Network (" Mohammed 's case")

I was updating my collection of adjudicated medical futility disputes when I noticed that I forgot to post a case decided at the end of 2012:  TS & DS v Sydney Children's Hospital Network (" Mohammed 's case").  



In this case, the New South Wales Supreme Court refused a parental request for a terminally ill baby to be placed on a mechanical ventilator.  The nine-month-old baby, Mohammed, was severely brain-damaged, deaf and blind.  



THE PARENTS

Mohammed's parents filed an emergency application with the NSW Supreme Court just before Christmas 2012, seeking an order compelling medical staff to treat their son by means of mechanical ventilation.  



They said their son should be given any treatment that could help him breathe.  They said he would then have a chance to resist, or better cope with, his other illnesses. They said Mohammed had survived the first nine months of his life because he was a "fighter" and, if given the chance, he would continue to fight for his health and life for as long as possible.



THE CLINICIANS

Doctors at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, where he has been treated since the age of two months, believed he had only weeks or months to live.  They submitted it was not in the baby's best interests to be placed on a ventilator.  They argued that since Mohammed's condition was terminal, the risks associated with ventilation and the pain and distress it would cause significantly outweighed any benefit Mohammed would receive.  Instead, they said he should be given pain relief and palliative care.



THE COURT

Justice Garling denied the parents' application.  He found that placing Mohammed on a mechanical ventilator would not cure his condition, nor play any role in a better outcome.  "Mohammed's life is to be measured in the short term. . . .  He should not be subjected to pain and discomfort for the remainder of his life by being placed on mechanical ventilation from which he will not be weaned."