FD2500652 - [2025] EWHC 2782 (Fam)

The child the subject of this application was born at the end of July 2025 in a hospital in the west of England. He is now twelve weeks old. He is the much loved son of the first and second respondents. Their privacy dictates that they are all anonymised in this judgment. His parents gave their son a special name. It is a name which recognises, and pays tribute to, the fight he has endured throughout his short life. This judgment shall refer to him as Child Q. The Applicant is the NHS Trust responsible for his medical treatment. Child Q has lived all his life in the neonatal intensive care ward of a hospital administered by the Trust.

Child Q has a profound brain injury caused by an unknown genetic condition. The consensus medical opinion is that he is unlikely to develop brain function to allow him to breathe sustainably without a mechanical ventilator or to be able to interact with the outside world. The Applicant has brought an application for a declaration that continued intubation and mechanical ventilation treatment is no longer in Child Q’s best interests. They acknowledge in their evidence that without this treatment, it is highly likely Child Q will die within minutes of extubating. The sole question before the court is whether continued mechanical ventilation is in Child Q’s best interests.

After having heard and read the evidence and received short submissions from the parties, I acceded to the Trust’s application. Given the need for the parents to return from the Royal Courts of Justice to be with their son, I announced the decision at the conclusion of the hearing without any delay. I make a declaration that mechanical ventilation and intensive care is not in Baby Q’s best interests. I endeavour to set out briefly the reasons for making this declaration.