Parents in Battle Against NHS Silence Order Regarding Deaths of Their Children
Parents of children who died after hospitals withdrew life support are currently in a court battle with the hospitals regarding the naming rights of the doctors involved.
The parents of two children who passed away after the NHS took legal action to withdraw their treatment are now embroiled in a Supreme Court dispute with the hospitals for the liberty to disclose the identities of the doctors responsible for their care.
Two NHS hospital trusts are challenging a High Court ruling from last year that granted the families of Zainab Abbasi and Isaiah Haastrup the authority to name the doctors who made the decision to halt life support for the two seriously ill children.
Last March, the court determined that the parents’ right to freedom of speech in recounting their story outweighed the potential privacy risks for the hospital staff involved.
Isaiah sustained severe brain damage due to oxygen deprivation at birth. Despite a judge’s decision that it was not in his best interest to remain on life support, his parents, Takesha Thomas and Lanre Haastrup, disagreed and contested the ruling. He passed away at 12 months old in Kings College Hospital, London.
Zainab, who suffered from a rare genetic disorder that went undiagnosed until she was three, was being sustained by a ventilator. Doctors at Great Northern Children’s Hospital in Newcastle wanted to discontinue her treatment when she was six, claiming that prolonging her life was not in her best interest.
Her parents, who are both medical professionals themselves, vehemently opposed ceasing treatment and had to be forcibly removed from her bedside by law enforcement, leading to the arrest of her father Rashid. He was later released after suffering a heart attack.
