Parents of tragic baby Olivia agree to withdrawal of life support after High Court battle

 
Standard Reporter19 February 2015

The parents of a one-year-old girl have agreed to the withdrawal of life support for their daughter after a long battle to save her life ended up in the High Court.

Olivia Stanca, described by her parents as a "little fighter", was born with a tumour on her adrenal gland which spread to her liver.

Olivia, whose first birthday was on Monday, beat the disease after two rounds of chemotherapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital but has suffered several blood infections and recurrent episodes of severe multiple organ failure.

The hospital trust was due to ask London's High Court for permission to discontinue a range of treatments, including renal replacement therapy, as doctors did not consider it in the child's best interests to continue treatment.

Parents Maria and George Stanca, from Walthamstow, east London, refused to give up hope and were planning to oppose the application and ask for everything possible to be done to keep their child alive.

But today Mr Justice Moylan, sitting in the Court of Protection, was told Mr and Mrs Stanca had this afternoon accepted Olivia's life was ending and agreed to life support being withdrawn following a rapid deterioration in her condition.

Fiona Paterson, appearing for the trust, told the judge that sadly the parents "now accept an end-of-life plan is necessary".

Ms Paterson said: "One of Mrs Stanca's dearest wishes was to take her daughter to a park to be alone with her and her husband."

The hospital was therefore making preparations to allow the family to go up to the hospital roof garden to spend time alone together before dusk.

Ms Paterson said: "If (Olivia) survives to the evening, staff at Great Ormond Street are happy to continue supporting the family up until eight o'clock enabling them be alone within the roof garden."

If the child survived beyond 8pm the family would be offered a private room in the paediatric intensive care unit.

"The aim is to leave the family alone and give them as much privacy as possible."

Ms Paterson said life support would be withdrawn, except for a portable ventilator and intravenous (IV) drug infusion for pain relief and sedation.

Mr and Mrs Stanca would be accompanied to the roof garden by two nurses of whom they were fond and with whom they enjoyed good relations.

A palliative care team would be available if the parents wished to have its support.

Vikram Sachdeva QC, representing the parents, gave their thanks and "deep appreciation to the court for its extremely sensitive approach to the case today".

The judge thanked all parties for "arriving at this resolution" and said he was satisfied that the arrangements being made were "necessary and justified in the circumstances of this case".

Earlier in the day - before news of Olivia's dramatic deterioration - Mr Sachdeva had told the court of "a fundamental disagreement" between the parents and the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust over whether Olivia should continue to receive treatment.

Last Friday the trust obtained a court order allowing staff not to resuscitate Olivia if she suffered a cardiac arrest, and to withhold chest compression and adrenalin to keep her heart going.

Mr Sachdeva told the court that Mr and Mrs Stanca wanted time to seek expert medical supporting their case that everything should be done to keep Olivia alive.

Mrs Stanca issued a statement saying: "Olivia is a little fighter and, while we appreciate she is not well, we just want to give her the best possible chance of survival with adequate treatment, nutrition and time and believe that with more time she will recover.

"She is our daughter and we have only just celebrated her first birthday and it's heart-breaking to be in this situation."

But by late afternoon the position had changed and both parents agreed to allow Olivia's life support to be withdrawn.

An appeal to raise £550,000 to move Olivia to a private clinic and spend three more months in intensive care, which her parents thought would give her a "fair chance" to recover, had by today topped £52,000.

Mrs Stanca, 33, a civil engineering student, said when making the appeal: "We're terrified we'll lose our daughter and just want the NHS to give her more time. She deserves a fair chance."

Anne-Marie Irwin, an associate solicitor with law firm Irwin Mitchell representing the family, said: "This is clearly a distressing time for Olivia's parents just a few days after their daughter's first birthday.

"There are no winners in this situation. The courts are charged with making very tough decisions where there are disputes between parents and clinicians over serious life or death medical issues - although events overtook the need for the court to make a decision in this case today.

"This is a tragic and incredibly sensitive case and the family asks that they are given space to be with their daughter in what may be her final hours."

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