The High Court has been told it be must be satisfied there is no possibility of an unborn child's survival before it backs action which would bring that life to an end.
The submission was made by lawyers representing the unborn child in the case of a brain-dead pregnant woman on life-support.
Her family want the machine to be turned off.
This special sitting of the High Court heard submissions from lawyers representing the pregnant woman’s father, the HSE, the unborn child, and the woman herself.
Presiding Judge Nicholas Kearns said it does not appear to the court that this case is a question of abortion, but nonetheless Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution is engaged.
Counsel for the father said the evidence is overwhelming that there is an expectation of the death of the foetus, based on medical evidence.
Lawyers for the HSE said the mother is entitled to dignity in death as she would’ve been in life, and they further argued that doctors should be allowed to trust their clinical judgement, especially where they were in agreement with each other, and in accordance with the families’ wishes.
Counsel for the unborn Conor Dignam said everyone is agreed it is a very tragic case. But he said that from the medical evidence, it is abundantly clear that the mother's life has passed, and that therefore her right to life is no longer under consideration when looking at the unborn’s right to life.
Counsel for the mother referred to medical evidence heard yesterday that one person’s experimental medical treatment – as in the case of maintaining ongoing life support – was another’s pioneering treatment.
The Court will give its judgement in the matter on St Stephen's Day.
This special sitting of the high court yesterday heard devastating evidence of the current state of a mother who is 18 weeks pregnant with her third child.
The woman, who cannot be identified, was admitted to a hospital outside Dublin on November 27th with severe headaches. Her condition deteriorated rapidly and she was later transferred to a hospital in Dublin where she did not survive surgery on her brain.
On December 3rd she was declared brain dead, but doctors did not switch off life support as there were concerns of the constitutional right to life of her unborn child.
Originally posted at 10.09am
