Woman with Covid should be allowed to die weeks after giving birth, judge rules

A woman in her early 30s, who has Covid and remains in an induced coma after giving birth to a son, should be allowed to die, against the wishes of her family, a judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Hayden said doctors could lawfully stop providing life-support treatment, as evidence showed they were no longer preserving the woman’s life, but prolonging her death.

He described the case as “a tragedy of an almost unimaginable dimension” and was told her chances of making any meaningful recovery were “zero”.

The woman, who cannot be named, is a Muslim who is married and also has a three-year-old daughter. She developed Covid-19 while at home and was rushed to hospital a month ago when 32 weeks pregnant, the judge was told.

Doctors said they delivered her son by caesarean section shortly after she was admitted. They said her pancreas had ceased to function and one lung had “died”.

A specialist overseeing her care said CT scans showed “essentially no normal lung function”.

“Her chances of making any meaningful recovery with the Covid are slim,” he told the judge. “The feeling of the whole team is that she has reached the point where it is, in essence, zero.”

The woman suffered from Addison’s disease, a rare disorder of glands that produce essential hormones, doctors said.

The judge considered the case at an urgent virtual hearing in the court of protection, where issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves are analysed, late on Tuesday.

Bosses at the university hospitals of Leicester NHS trust had asked him to rule that ending life-support treatment would be in the woman’s best interests.

The woman’s husband and sister said she should be given more time and treatment should continue, and that the family was Muslim and believed only God could end life.

“To unplug the machine, this is for us like asking someone to kill us,” the woman’s sister said. “When God has written our death, that is when we will die.”

But the judge concluded ending treatment would be in the patient’s best interests and said she should be allowed to die with dignity.

“This family is seeking a miracle,” he said. “This is a very young mother in circumstances of almost unspeakable sadness.”

He said the woman’s life and hopes had been extinguished by “this insidious virus”, and a young family “split apart prematurely”.

The judge heard the woman knew she was carrying a boy and had chosen a name for him.

Hayden said doctors had prepared a palliative care plan and the woman’s family would be able to see her.

“The objective is not to shorten her life,” he added. “[But] to avoid the prolongation of her death.”