Update to main text para 13.11, page 399: Withdrawal of treatment in MCS
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board v RY & CP [016] EWHC 3256 (Fam)
Decided only months after Briggs and Baker J’s Oxford speech (see main text at para 13.13.), this unsuccessful application for withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (namely, deep suctioning to keep patent a tracheostomy tube and thus RY’s air way) is the near mirror image of Briggs in factual terms. It is also a salutary illustration of the almost unique challenge MCS poses to those evaluating the burdens and benefits of life-sustaining treatment, given our very limited understanding of the life experienced by a patient in a prolonged disorder of consciousness.