By Lucy Caulkett-
A judge is to decide whether a woman in her 50s who has been left paralyzed from the neck down after contracting Covid-19 should be allowed to die.
Lawyers representing bosses at the hospital where the mother of four is being treated have told Mr Justice Hayden that the woman has been left “profoundly neurologically impaired”.
They have made submissions to the judge stating that specialists believe that life-support treatment should end.
The woman’s children, and sister, disagree and says she should be given more time to live, arguing that their mother would prefer to live than to die.
The London based judge presided over a preliminary online hearing in the Court of Protection, where judges consider issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions, on Wednesday.
He is expected to make a decision this year, after considering detailed evidence at a trial.
The judge said the woman, who is being treated at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, could not be identified in media reports of the case.
Sophia Roper said the consequences of Covid-19 had been profoundly damaging and the woman had been left “profoundly neurologically impaired”.
“There are no patients who have the unique combination of pathologies experienced by (the woman),” she said.
“Clinicians think it is not in her best interests for life-sustaining treatment to be continued further.”
Ms Roper said the woman, who has underlying health problems, was paralysed from the neck down and had brain damage.
The judge was told how evidence showed that the woman was in a minimally conscious state and that her condition was “complex”.
He heard that she had been described as being “locked in”.
Mr Justice Hayden said evidence showed that “this virus” had attacked “every single aspect” of the woman’s “function and condition”.
Her sister asked the judge: “Please give my sister time.”