Re J (A Minor) (Medical Treatment)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 10 June 1992 |
| Date | 10 June 1992 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Donaldson of Lymington, Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Balcombe and Lord Justice Leggatt
Children - medical treatment - doctor not compelled to treat
The court would not order a medical practitioner to adopt a course of treatment which in his clinical judgment was contra-indicated as not being in the patient's best interests.
Accordingly where a paediatrician caring for a severely handicapped baby considered that mechanical ventilation procedures would not be appropriate, the court would not grant an injunction requiring such treatment to take place.
The Court of Appeal so held giving reasons for allowing on June 3 the health authority's appeal from Mr Justice Waite who had granted the local authority and the mother an interlocutory injunction pending a full hearing that: if (i) J's medical condition changed so that his life were threatened but was capable of being prolonged by, inter alia, artificial ventilation, (ii) he was at that time in the care of the health authority and (iii) the required drugs and equipment could reasonably be made available, then the health authority be required to cause such measures to be applied to J for so long as they were capable of prolonging his life.
The Court of Appeal granted an injunction on June 3 prohibiting (i) the soliciting of any information relating to J, his parents, foster parents, past and present carers and the local and health authorities and (ii) anything leading to their identification. Counsel and solicitors are therefore not named.
THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS said that J, born in January 1991, suffered an accidental fall when he was a month old with the result that he was profoundly handicapped both mentally and physically. He was severely microcephalic, his brain not having grown sufficiently following the injury. He also had severe cerebral palsy, cortical blindness and severe epilepsy.
He was in general fed by a nasogastric tube. Medical opinion was unanimous that J was unlikely to develop much beyond his present functioning, that that level might deteriorate and that his expectation of life, although uncertain, would be short.
His Lordship paid tribute to the devoted and extensive care provided by the foster parents with whom the local authority, who shared responsibility for J, had placed him. He also referred to the consultant paediatrician's report in December 1991 which had...
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