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Boy’s life-support treatment should stop, say experts

High Court judge says independent specialists agree with doctors treating 10-month-old Isaiah

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Undated family file handout photo issued by Irwin Mitchell of 10-month-old Isaiah Haastrup with his aunt Dahlia Thomas, as a High Court judge oversees latest round of life-support treatment fight (PA/Irwin Mitchell)

Doctors who say a sick 10-month-old boy should no longer receive life-support treatment have been backed by independent medical experts.

Specialists at King’s College Hospital in London say giving further intensive
care treatment to Isaiah Haastrup is ”futile, burdensome and not in his best
interests”.

Isaiah’s mother, Takesha Thomas, and father, Lanre Haastrup, who live in
London, want treatment to continue.

A High Court judge overseeing the case says two independent specialists asked
for second opinions have agreed with treating doctors.

Mr Justice MacDonald summarised the latest evidence at a private hearing in the
Family Division of the High Court in London on Monday.

The judge had been due to begin overseeing a trial.

But he adjourned the start until Monday January 22 after Isaiah’s mother and
father said they needed more time to prepare their case.

Barrister Fiona Paterson, who is representing King’s College Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust, has told Mr Justice MacDonald that Isaiah was born at King’s
College Hospital on February 18 with a severe brain injury thought to have been caused by a deprivation of oxygen.

She said he was ”ventilator-dependent” and being cared for in a paediatric
intensive care unit.

Doctors did not think there were any ”further investigations or forms of
treatment” which would benefit him.

Mr Justice MacDonald said independent experts “concur entirely”.

The judge has ruled that journalists can report proceedings, even though
hearings are taking place in private, but has imposed limits on what can be
reported.

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