This is a tragic situation that is complex and not easy to navigate. I have known and worked with children like this and worked with their parents.
Parents are under immense pressure and of course will always defend their children, no matter what the circumstances.
As an educator is these children, we always did our best to give them the best opportunities, but often this involved just attempting to communicate something – anything we could, in an attempt to understand their needs.
Some children could be in constant pain but without the ability to communicate that in any way. That’s difficult to understand, but the brain can be so underdeveloped it so damaged that even communicating pain is impossible.
PetersMapProject on
It is always tragic when children die, but it’s always worth reading the judgement.
He’s so ill that he is permanently on a ventilator and cannot leave hospital. He cannot move or communicate; even his eye movements are deteriorating. He cannot express pain. He cannot play.
His secretions need to be cleared, or it feels like he’s drowning. But the suction required is described by other patients as feeling like a hot poker going down your throat.
He had no real quality of life, and no prospect of ever gaining a quality of life…. and as he was cognitively intact, he was fully aware of his own suffering.
It is terrible when a child is so sick, but it is even more terrible when a child is allowed to suffer for as long as possible with no hope of improvement.
Very sad. I understand Ayden’s mother appealing this all the way up to the High Court – maybe I would do the same – and I appreciate her not turning it into a media storm. Godspeed youngster, to whatever comes next
AonghusMacKilkenny on
Glad this didn’t turn into another one of these ‘Alfie’s barmy army’ type cases
MoMxPhotos on
If the only thing keeping you alive and I use that term very loosely since really the child is simply existing in a vegetable state is due to a machine, then you are already dead, keeping them like that is pure cruelty.
I’m happy that the child is now free of suffering in silence.
6 Comments
This is a tragic situation that is complex and not easy to navigate. I have known and worked with children like this and worked with their parents.
Parents are under immense pressure and of course will always defend their children, no matter what the circumstances.
As an educator is these children, we always did our best to give them the best opportunities, but often this involved just attempting to communicate something – anything we could, in an attempt to understand their needs.
Some children could be in constant pain but without the ability to communicate that in any way. That’s difficult to understand, but the brain can be so underdeveloped it so damaged that even communicating pain is impossible.
It is always tragic when children die, but it’s always worth reading the judgement.
He’s so ill that he is permanently on a ventilator and cannot leave hospital. He cannot move or communicate; even his eye movements are deteriorating. He cannot express pain. He cannot play.
His secretions need to be cleared, or it feels like he’s drowning. But the suction required is described by other patients as feeling like a hot poker going down your throat.
He had no real quality of life, and no prospect of ever gaining a quality of life…. and as he was cognitively intact, he was fully aware of his own suffering.
It is terrible when a child is so sick, but it is even more terrible when a child is allowed to suffer for as long as possible with no hope of improvement.
https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/great-ormond-street-hospital-for-children-v-braqi/
Very sad. I understand Ayden’s mother appealing this all the way up to the High Court – maybe I would do the same – and I appreciate her not turning it into a media storm. Godspeed youngster, to whatever comes next
Glad this didn’t turn into another one of these ‘Alfie’s barmy army’ type cases
If the only thing keeping you alive and I use that term very loosely since really the child is simply existing in a vegetable state is due to a machine, then you are already dead, keeping them like that is pure cruelty.
I’m happy that the child is now free of suffering in silence.
[deleted]