Judge rules doctors can treat diabetic who wants to die Published duration 4 July 2019

image copyright Getty Images image caption A medical assistant holding an insulin pen administered to diabetes patients

A High Court judge has given doctors permission to administer insulin to a diabetic teenager who was refusing treatment because she wants to die.

Mr Justice MacDonald said there was no evidence the patient lacked mental capacity, but in the circumstances it was right to override her wishes.

The treatment was in the girl's best interests, the judge ruled.

Doctors at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust had said she needed help as a matter of urgency.

The girl, who is in her mid-teens, cannot be identified for legal reasons.