Sick baby's treatment 'should continue', High Court told Published duration 10 November 2017

image copyright PA image caption Isaiah, pictured with an aunt, has brain damage

A mother and father are fighting a High Court battle to stop their eight-month-old son's life support machine being switched off.

Isaiah Haastrup is brain damaged and dependent on a ventilator to keep him alive at King's College Hospital, London.

Doctors said giving him further treatment was "futile, burdensome and not in his best interests".

But father Lanre Haastrup and mother Takesha Thomas want it to continue.

They also hope an independent assessor will be appointed to give a medical opinion.

Isaiah was born with a severe brain injury believed to have been caused by oxygen deprivation.

Doctors do not think there are any "further investigations or forms of treatment" which would benefit him, the hospital's barrister Fiona Paterson said.

She told Mr Justice MacDonald relations between hospital bosses and Isaiah's parents were "difficult".

The court heard that Mr Haastrup, of Peckham, south London, had been barred from visiting the hospital following an incident a few days ago.

'Not a saint'

Mr Haastrup sought a judicial review over the ban which has been refused by the High Court.

"I am not a saint but I am not a demon either," he said.

He told the court there had been a "lack of care" for Isaiah.

Mr Justice MacDonald created an order barring the media from identifying medical staff caring for Isaiah and said he hoped mediation could avoid a full trial.

Failing that, the court case will formally begin on 15 January.

A King's College Hospital spokeswoman said Mr Haastrup had already made a written application for permission to launch a judicial review but this was refused by a judge earlier this week.