Woman Paralyzed Due To COVID-19 Should Be Removed From Life-Support, Judge Rules

A British woman who was left brain-damaged and paralyzed from the neck down after contracting COVID-19 last year should be allowed to die, a judge has ruled.

The unnamed patient at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, England, should stop receiving life-support treatment by the end of October, Judge Hayden ruled Saturday at a trial in the Court of Protection, which oversees hearings centered on adults who lack the mental capacity to make decisions, Cambridgeshire Live reported.

The woman, who is in her 50s, went to the hospital on an emergency basis in late 2020 and was put on a ventilator, but doctors said life-support treatment was causing her distress and adding to her "burden," a report by the BBC said.

Additionally, specialists reportedly told the court that the woman was the "most complicated" COVID-19 patient in the world.

"I have been told, authoritatively, that in terms of the neurological impact and complications, [the woman] is 'the most complex COVID patient in the world,'" Hayden, who claimed this was the first time a judge had considered an end-of-life case as a result of COVID-19, was quoted as saying by the Cambridgeshire Live.

Lawyer Katie Gollop, who represented hospital bosses, described the woman's case as "unique," according to the outlet. The woman had become "almost entirely paralyzed" and had "severe" cognitive impairment, Gollop said.

One specialist reportedly claimed the woman suffered from complications that had not been "described" before in the U.K.

"This is an exceptionally rare condition including catastrophic and irreversible brain damage, and our doctors have explored every medical treatment," Dr. Ashley Shaw, director of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said after the ruling.

Doctors said that there was nothing they could do to make "any aspect of her condition better" and that her life expectancy could be measured in months. Moving the woman to a palliative care regime, however, would enable her to die peacefully and without distress, they claimed.

The first option of two that specialists recommended would see the woman moved to a "calm, quiet and private place" where her life can end while being "surrounded" by her family, Gollop said.

"Independent medical experts and a highly-experienced Court of Protection judge agree with our teams that further treatment, to prolong life beyond a reasonable time for the patient to be with their family, would be futile and would only extend the patient’s suffering," Shaw said.

Nageena Khalique, who led the woman's legal team, claimed at an earlier hearing that the woman's family argued she "would not want to end her life in this way" as it would be "tantamount to suicide," according to the BBC. While there was "no direct record" of what the woman would have wanted to happen, Khalique claimed she had a "strong religious conviction."

The other option was for the woman to continue her treatment in an intensive care unit, where the presence of her family could not be guaranteed, until she "succumbs to fatal infection" at an "unpredictable time," Gollop said.

Judge Hayden ultimately ruled that the woman's ventilation should be discontinued by the end of October, saying that it was in the patient's best interest to be moved "to a place which protects her privacy and affords her greater rest."

It would not be in her best interest for the ventilation to continue indefinitely, the judge said. He, however, said ventilation should continue until the woman's children and family members could be "with her."

"This conclusion was arrived at following consideration of both national and international case studies," the judge said.

"On any view, the evidence in this case is extremely challenging. None of the available options is devoid of difficulty," he added.

The U.K. has recorded more than 6.9 million COVID-19 cases and over 133,000 deaths as of Sunday, according to data from the British government.