Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment: Fixsler

In June, we noted the judgment in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust v Fixsler & Ors [2021] EWHC 1426 (Fam), in which the parents of Alta Fixsler, a two-year-old born with catastrophic brain injury who was on life support at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, contested the Trust’s application to the Court to discontinue her treatment. The Fixslers were Chasidic Jews and Israeli citizens, and they sought to take Alta to Israel for continued treatment and the exploration of long-term ventilation at home in Israel in due course. If the court concluded that it was in her best interests for life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn, they wanted that step to be taken in Israel.

At that hearing, MacDonald J concluded that it would be in her best interests for life-sustaining medical treatment to be withdrawn and for the Trust to implement a palliative care regime and the Trust’s application was therefore granted. The matter returned to the Family Court in October, however. In Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust v Fixsler & Ors [2021] EWHC 2664 (Fam), in a further dispute between the parties:  the location at which Alta’s life support should be withdrawn. Continue reading