(Family Division; Hedley J; 23 February 2006) [2006] 2 FLR 111

Granting a declaration that in view of the deterioration in the child's health since the last hearing, the hospital could now lawfully withhold ventilation and intubation on the basis of the child's best interests, the judge reiterated that no sensible view of life was complete without a view of how it ended and that the aspiration for a good death was one which was deep within the human psyche. He repeated his view that there was little that would be worse than for a child to be intubated and die in the course of futile treatment or, worse still, in the course of futile treatment while futile legal proceedings were on foot.