LONDON, March 21: A seriously ill baby boy in Britain died on Saturday, the day after his parents lost a legal battle to force doctors to keep him alive.

The parents wanted medics to keep treating their son — who had a rare metabolic disorder, was brain damaged and had suffered respiratory failure — but doctors said he had no prospect of recovery.

A hearing at the Court of Appeal in London on Friday to resolve the dispute backed the doctors, although judges voiced the “deepest sympathy” for the mother and father of the nine-month-old boy.

The parents said that their son, named only as OT, died soon after doctors withdrew treatment.

They said on Friday they were “deeply distressed” by the ruling and that their son would on Saturday be taken off the ventilator which was keeping him alive.

“We are and always will be convinced that despite his desperate problems, his life is worthwhile and is worth preserving as long as it is possible to do so without causing him undue pain,” the parents said before he died.

The judges said they would give the reasons for their decision at a later date.—AFP
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