A special sitting of the High Court will resume this morning, to hear legal submissions in the case of a brain dead pregnant woman who’s being kept on life support.
The woman, who’s now 18 weeks pregnant, has been on life support for three weeks today.
Doctors had expressed their concerns that ending life support would be in breach of the 8th amendment to the constitution, which gives equal status to the life of the mother and the unborn.
The family of a brain dead pregnant woman will have to wait until after Christmas to hear if her life support can be switched off.
The woman, who was 14 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to hospital with severe headaches last month, has been on somatic support for three weeks now.
Her family and her partner have told the court it’s their wish for her life support to be terminated, as the prospect of survival of the foetus is minimal, and they want her to die with dignity.
Lawyers representing the woman’s father, the HSE, the unborn child, the woman herself and a Dublin hospital will argue their cases in the High Court this morning.
Yesterday, the HSE told the court that there is no reasonable prospect that the unborn child will be born alive even if life support continues, and seven consultants were in agreement that continuing life support was not the right course of action.
The three judge panel have said they’ll give their judgement on St. Stephen’s Day.
