U.K. Hospital Unilaterally Cuts Off Life Support of Disabled Patient over Family Objections

Readers may recall the Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans cases in the U.K., in which National Health Service hospitals took the parents of terminally ill children to court after they refused to acquiesce in doctors' recommendations that life support be ended.

In both cases, the court ruled in the hospital's favor in determining both that life support could be ended and preventing the parents from transferring care of their children to medical facilities willing to provide last-ditch treatments that the families wanted.

Now, a Trust hospital hasn't even bothered going to court. Instead, doctors have unilaterally withdrawn kidney dialysis over family objections from Robert Barnor, who was profoundly disabled by a stroke, stating that letting the man die is merely a "clinical" decision. From the Telegraph story:

The 68-year-old suffered extensive brain damage and can now only open his eyes and move his head. He requires twice-weekly dialysis treatment for kidney disease, without which he would be expected to die within days.

On Wednesday, the hospital told his family it had made a "clinical decision" to end Mr Barnor's dialysis and provide palliative care until he dies.