Big headlines over here in the UK today: The fight to save the life of Baby RB has ended with the father’s acquiescence to removing life support. From the story:
A baby at the centre of a “right to life” court battle will be allowed to die after his father today withdrew his case. Doctors and the one-year-old child’s mother had gone to the High Court for permission to switch off his life support. The father backed down on the seventh day of an emotionally-charged High Court hearing. In a moving statement the judge, Mr Justice McFarlane, paid tribute to the parents’ care for the boy, recognising the “immense stress” they had suffered at the cost of their relationship. In one moment, he said, all their hopes and dreams for their baby had been dashed and replaced by a “a life characterised by worry, stress, exhaustion, confusion and no doubt great sadness”.
The judge had faced the formidable task of deciding whether the chronically disabled child, known only as RB,should be allowed to live or die in peace after withdrawal of his ventilation.
“Be allowed to die in peace” rather than live with disabilities. Kind of sums it all up in a nutshell, doesn’t it?
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