Ed Madden, BL, looks at a recent England and Wales High Court case in which the Court heard the circumstances that led to an application by a local authority in relation to the withdrawal of medical treatment for a young boy I n January 2024, the Family Division of the England and Wales High Court delivered its judgment in a case in which a local authority brought an application in relation to the withdrawal of medical treatment and the provision of end of life care for a young boy ‘Z’. The application followed a view taken by the responsible NHS Trust (‘the Trust’) that it was appropriate to move to a palliative care model, and for the boy’s life to be brought to an end. The local authority’s involvement in the case arose from the fact that Z, who was born in the first half of 2022, was made subject to a care and placement order in October of that year.
When the case came on for hearing, the child was represented by the children’s guardian who instructed counsel. The Court was told that from birth, Z suffered from cardiac defects, transposition of his arteries, and a number of other serious physical abnormalities. He was transferred to a Children’s Hospital shortly after birth and had remained there ever since.
Z underwent a series of corrective cardiac procedures, and spent a considerable amount of time in the paediatric intensive care unit. In November 2022, he was moved from that unit to a hospital ward, where a process (ICU) was put in place to gradually .
