A 16-year-old boy who suffered brain damage after an apparent suicide bid should be allowed to die, a High Court judge has ruled. Mrs Justice Morgan has concluded that ending life-support treatment is in the best interests of the teenager, who has been in a hospital intensive care unit for many months.
The judge outlined the detail of her decision in a written ruling published on Tuesday (March 14) after considering the youngster’s case at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London. She described what had happened as a “tragedy”.
She said the teenager was found unresponsive at home nearly two years ago after “what it seems was an attempt to take his own life”. Doctors said he had suffered “severe global brain damage”.
