This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Isaiah Haastrup, the profoundly brain-damaged baby boy at the centre of a right-to-life legal battle, has died, his father has said.

Doctors removed him from life-support on Wednesday after a last-resort appeal to the European court of human rights (ECHR) was refused on Tuesday. He received only palliative care after his extubation.



His father, Lanre Haastrup, and mother, Takesha Thomas, both 36 and from south London, had unsuccessfully fought an application by King’s College hospital to withdraw life-sustaining treatment from their son, aged one, who had been on life support since birth.

A high court judge ruled on 29 January it was in Isaiah’s best interests for treatment to be withdrawn. Doctors said he could not move or breathe independently and had profoundly depressed consciousness after suffering catastrophic brain damage through being deprived of oxygen at birth,

His parents were denied permission to appeal to the court of appeal, and an 11th hour appeal to the ECHR was ruled inadmissible on Tuesday.

Treatment was withdrawn at 1pm on Wednesday, according to Isaiah’s father, and he died shortly before 8pm.

Haastrup told the Guardian: “Isaiah was extubated at 1pm and breathed on his own till 7.50pm before he died. This was completely different from the three minutes the experts told the court he [would] breathe due to his injury.

“He demonstrated that he wanted to live and can breathe on his own, and could have been weaned off the ventilator. I am so proud of him.”

A spokesman for the King’s College hospital trust said the thoughts of staff were with Isaiah’s parents. “Isaiah Haastrup suffered an irreversible brain injury following a rare and life-threatening obstetric emergency during his mother’s labour,” said the spokesman.



“Since birth he had been fully dependent on life support with no prospect of improvement, and throughout we actively sought to engage and involve Isaiah’s parents in his care.

“The best interests of our patients must always come first. The trust always provided Isaiah with the very best care, and the decision to apply to the court to withdraw treatment was only made after careful consideration and after consultation with the family.

“In Isaiah’s case, the high court ruled that overwhelming expert and independent medical opinion supported the declaration sought that withdrawing treatment was in his best interests.

“Subsequently, neither the court of appeal or the European court of human rights reversed the original decision of the high court.”

He added: “We recognise that this has been an extremely difficult time for Isaiah’s family as well as those involved in his care since birth. As Mr Justice MacDonald wrote in his judgment ‘no one can imagine the emotional pain of the parents’.

“The thoughts of everyone at the trust are with them.”