The parents of a brain damaged boy whose doctors want to end his life say he ‘deserves his chance to fight’ in a new High Court battle echoing the tragic case of Charlie Gard.
Specialists at King’s College Hospital in London say giving further intensive care treatment to seven-month-old Isaiah Thomas is ‘futile, unduly burdensome and not in his best interests’.
Isaiah’s mother Takesha Thomas and father Lanre Hasstrup want treatment to continue.
Pictured: Seven-month-old Isaiah Thomas is currently in intensive care and his parents are locked in a High Court battle to keep him alive, echoing the tragic case of Charlie Gard
Charlie Gard’s parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates fought Great Ormond Street through the courts to prevent doctors ending his life until they lost their battle and his life support was withdrawn in July.
Takesha said outside the High Court today: ‘We believe that Isaiah deserves his chance to fight for his life and that there is still more that can be done for him. We do not think it is in our son’s best interests to stop the treatment which is keeping him alive’.
His father Lanre said previously: ‘It’s like the Charlie Gard case. They want to end my son’s life’.
The couple say they have ‘lost all trust’ in the hospital, after Isaiah suffered brain damage, resulting from complications during labour on February 18 this year.
His mother Takesha, from Peckham, ‘almost died’ herself and lost nearly half of her blood, leaving her in a coma for several days.
She said in August: ‘I could feel the baby shaking inside of me. He was inhaling blood’.
Isaiah’s ‘respiratory drive’ was damaged, which means although he is growing normally he has trouble breathing on his own.
Isaiah Thomas’s parents Takesha and Lanre are asking Mr Justice MacDonald (pictured) to dismiss the advice of Specialists at King’s College Hospital in London and let him live
His doctors believe it would be better to let him die but his parents are refusing to accept he can’t be helped.
Today a judge examined preliminary issues around Isaiah’s case at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court on Friday.
Mr Justice MacDonald made an order barring staff caring for Isaiah, whose family home is Peckham, south-east London, from being identified in media reports.
He said it was vital that medics were allowed to focus on Isaiah’s care without any distractions publicity might generate.
Great Ormond Street medical staff had the same treatment during the Charlie Gard legal battle.
A further preliminary hearing has been listed for October 13.
Charlie Gard’s parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates fought Great Ormond Street through the courts to prevent doctors ending his life until they lost their battle and his life support was withdrawn in July
Barrister Fiona Paterson, who represented King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, told Mr Justice MacDonald that Isaiah was born at King’s College Hospital on February 18 with a severe brain injury thought to have been caused by a deprivation of oxygen.
‘Isaiah has been and continues to be ventilator-dependent and currently cared for in the trust’s paediatric intensive care unit,’ she said in a written case outline.
‘A second opinion has been obtained on Isaiah’s diagnosis, prognosis and possible treatment options.
‘Unfortunately, it appears that there are no further investigations or forms of treatment which will benefit Isaiah.
‘The treating team considers that, in the light of Isaiah’s poor prognosis, continuing intensive care treatment is futile, unduly burdensome and not in his best interests.’
Lawyers representing the trust told the judge that Isaiah’s parents opposed the application.
Mr Justice MacDonald said the order he had made barring the naming of medics would be reviewed at future hearings.
A Serious Incident Report from King’s, published on July 28, found there was a delay in identifying that the baby’s heartrate had dropped significantly for approximately 27 minutes, before a doctor was summoned and an emergency caesarean was ordered.
The report said ‘ten or more minutes’ could have been saved, which would not have resulted in the delivery of a perfectly healthy baby, but would likely have reduced the severity of the neurological damage. The report found no grounds for disciplinary action.
Isaiah is currently hooked up to a ventilator which breathes for him, and he is fed through a nasal tube.
He rests in a shared room in King’s neonatal intensive care ward, where his mum and dad take turns to visit him ‘unrelentingly, every day’.
Lanre, a 38-year-old practising lawyer living in Brockley, visits his son from 9pm to 1am after work. Takesha, a stylist, takes care of Isaiah from 11am and 4pm.