Appellate Court Affirms XY Judgment - Withdrawing Nutrition & Hydration in Patient's Best Interest

54-year-old XY suffered a cardiac arrest leading to severe hypoxic brain damage. She was in a PDOC. King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust sought to withdraw life sustaining therapy and other therapy. XY's friends and family opposed this plan.  

In early November 2024, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot in the Court of Protection, sitting in the High Court Family Division, authorized the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for XY on the basis that due to severe and extensive brain damage that continuing treatment is not in her best interests. The family's religious beliefs and hope for recovery were considered but were outweighed by medical evidence. The COP hearing is, as usual, nicely described by the Open Justice Court of Protection Project here.

The daughter of XY challenged the COP decision. In late November, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment. Both the oral argument and the court's issuance of judgment are posted to the court's YouTube channel (here and here). The written judgments (along with dozens of others in similar cases) are here.

With all domestic legal remedies exhausted, the family applied for Interim Measures from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to prevent the removal of care.