Friday, December 26, 2014
Brain-dead pregnant woman’s life support can be switched off, Irish court rules | World news | The Guardian
Edition: UK US AU About us About us, Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper Main section G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Film & music Subscribe News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News World news Ireland Ireland�s high court grants family wish that she be allowed to die, in landmark judgment that challenges constitution Henry McDonald , Ireland correspondent Pro-choice supporters in front of Irish government buildings in Dublin last year. Some campaigners argue the 8th amendment should be abolished. Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images A Guardian investigation reveals growing numbers of young families inside the migrant camps and lorry-parks of Calais Footage from the petrol station in Berkeley, Missouri, where Antonio Martin was shot dead Manchester United manager gives Christmas toast and looks ahead to 2015 Our choice of the world's best current footballers, selected by a 73-strong global panel I am a Woman Man Seeking Women Men Men & Women Aged 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 to 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 In United Kingdom Ireland United States Australia Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Austria Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Democratic Republic of Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Occupied Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint-Barthelemy Saint-Martin Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea Spain Spratly Islands Sri Lanka St Helena Ascension and Tristan da Cunha St. Lucia Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand The Bahamas The Gambia Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Within 5 miles 10 miles 20 miles 40 miles 60 miles 100 miles 200 miles 300 miles Of Search License/buy our content | Privacy policy | Terms & conditions | Advertising guide | Accessibility | A-Z index | Inside the Guardian blog | About us | Work for us | Join our dating site today � 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Ireland�s high court has ruled that doctors can switch off the life support machine of a brain dead woman who is 18 weeks pregnant. The landmark judgment is a serious challenge to the Irish constitution which gives a mother and an unborn child equal rights. On Friday the three judges, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, Ms Justice Marie Baker and Ms Justice Caroline Costello, granted the woman�s family�s wish that she be allowed to die. The doctors who were keeping the woman alive feared they could be prosecuted under Ireland�s very strict abortion laws because by switching off life support they would causing the death of the foetus as well as its mother. But Kearns said the court �is satisfied, in the circumstances of this case, that it is in the best interests of the unborn child; it should authorise at the discretion of the medical team the withdrawal of ongoing somatic support being provided in this tragic and unfortunate case�. The judge added: �To maintain and continue the present somatic support for the mother would deprive her of dignity and subject her father, her partner and her young children to unimaginable distress in a futile exercise which commenced only because of fears held by treating medical specialists of potential consequences.� The father of the woman at the centre of the controversy told the court on Tuesday: �My daughter is dead, the chances of the foetus surviving are minimal, we have been told. I want her to have dignity and be put to rest.� When he was informed that his daughter was being kept on life support to save the unborn child, the father said he found the doctors� decision �extremely distressful�. His daughter has been clinically brain-dead since suffering a trauma injury last month. The woman�s partner was also in court, and said that he was fully behind the family�s decision to ask for the life support to be switched off. He told the judges he was the father of all her children including the unborn child. Under article 8 of the Irish constitution the unborn child has the same rights as its mother even in this case. All the medical experts who gave evidence in the case earlier this week said the chances of the unborn child surviving were minimal. Intensive care specialist Dr Brian Marsh said the view of medical science was that the woman was now a �corpse�. �I don�t believe this unborn baby can survive,� Marsh told the high court earlier this week. Another medical expert, consultant obstetrician Dr Peter Boylan, said the medical team treating the woman at present were in uncharted territory. Boylan said they had been right to seek legal advice but that the removal of article 8 would be helpful. Ireland�s Health Service Executive also told the judges that given the medical evidence the court should make an order ruling that discontinuing treatment would be lawful. The 8th amendment �acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect and, as far as practicable by its laws, to defend and vindicate that right�. It was passed in 1983 after pressure from an alliance of anti-abortion and religious groups who forced through and won a referendum to change the Irish constitution. Pro-choice campaigners and some doctors have argued that in order to avoid controversies like the current one the 8th amendment must be abolished. Father of brain-dead pregnant woman tells Irish court: I want her put to rest Abortion laws under scrutiny as family of woman want doctors to switch off her life-support machine A brain-dead Irish woman's body is being used as an incubator. Be angry Anti-abortion activist found guilty of harassing Belfast Marie Stopes boss Labour considers buffer zones to restrict abortion clinic protests Pregnant passerby challenges anti-abortion protesters 'I can't think of a time when it was worse': US abortion doctors speak out Ann Furedi: It's time for anti-abortion protesters to back off We can't load the discussion on theguardian.com because you don't have JavaScript enabled . As the year draws to an end, we look back at some of the network�s highlights Junior doctor Rose Singleton will be delivering babies in the ward where she was born on Christmas Eve by Richard McGuire �20.00 by Carol Ann Duffy �5.49 by David Gentleman �20.00 by Andrew Gant �7.99 by Becky Gardiner �10.99 Find the latest jobs in your sector:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment