UK High Court Rules Life-Sustaining Treatment Not in Baby's Best Interest

Mrs. Justice Lieven has now posted the reasons for her December 2019 declaration that had been sought by Rotherham NHS Trust in the case of 2-month-old Baby X.

Baby X was born with hydraencephaly, meaning that some of his brain was not fully formed. The court determined that "X's life is minimal, if non-existent.... The only sensation that he does have is one of pain.... X's life is one of nothing but suffering." Therefore, the court declared: "It is not in X's best interests that he should be resuscitated or that he should be given life-sustaining treatment."