Irlannin High Court: Raskaana oleva äiti voitiin irrottaa elvytyslaitteista vaikka se merkitsee myös sikiön kuolemaa

Dublinissa sijaitseva High Court (vastaa osin suomalaista hovioikeutta) päätti tapaninpäivänä, että raskaana oleva nainen, joka oli ollut kliinisesti kuollut jo viikkoja, voitiin irrottaa elintoimintoja ylläpitävästä laitteesta huolimatta Irlannin erittäin tiukasta aborttilainsäädännöstä. Naista hoitavat lääkärit eivät olleet uskaltaneet irrottaa naista elvytyslaitteista peläten joutuvansa syytteeseen aborttilainsäädännön rikkomisesta.

Tuomiota ei ole vielä julkistettu tuomioistuinlaitoksen kotisivuilla, mutta Daily Mail uutisoi asiasta seuraavasti:

The Irish
High Court has said doctors may switch off the life support machine of a
pregnant woman who has been clinically dead since December 3.

The
High Court in Dublin heard submissions on Christmas Eve on behalf of
the woman, her family, her partner, the baby and the hospital involved –
none of which can be named for legal reasons.

Members
of the woman’s family waited in court as Judge Nicholas Kearns ruled
that continuing with life support was a ‘distressing exercise in
futility’.

The woman, in
her late 20s, has been brain-dead since suffering a trauma injury last
month.

Doctors have
previously told the court the unborn baby cannot survive.

The three-judge
panel, comprising president of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, Ms
Justice Marie Baker and Ms Justice Caroline Costello, gave their decision in
Dublin in a 29 page ruling at lunchtime.

The baby’s
legal team announced that it will not be appealing the decision to the Supreme
Court.

In a landmark
ruling, Dublin’s High Court said keeping the young mother alive would deprive
her of dignity in death and subject her father, partner and two young children
to ‘unimaginable distress’ in a ‘futile exercise’.

The panel of
judges said it was in the best interest of the unborn child to authorise the
withdrawal of life support in what was a ‘tragic and unfortunate case’.

Lisätietoa: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/article-2887596/Judges-decide-switch-life-support-machine-keeping-baby-alive-pregnant-woman-clinically-dead-November-29.html.