Parents of Christian woman who died fighting NHS win appeal

The parents of a Christian woman who died while fighting the NHS over its decision to finish life-sustaining treatment have won an appeal. 

Sudiksha Thirumalesh suffered from a rare mitochondrial disorder which doctors treating her on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham said was incurable. They concluded that it was in her best interests to die and that each one life-sustaining treatment ought to be ended. 

At the time of her death last September, aged 19, she had been fighting within the courts for permission to go to Canada for experimental treatment.

A court-imposed anonymity order was lifted after her death, allowing her to be named and making it possible for her family to talk openly about their frustrations. 

Wednesday’s ruling by the Court of Appeal overturns an earlier ruling which had declared that Thirumalesh lacked mental capability to make decisions about her medical treatment. 

Welcoming the end result of their appeal, Sudiksha’s parents, Thirumalesh Chellamal Hemachandran and Revathi Malesh Thirumalesh, said, “We are grateful to the Court of Appeal for a chance to challenge the frightening and unfair judgment made against Sudiksha even after her death, and for setting the law straight.

“A patient’s right to disagree together with her doctors, to not relinquish hope, and still to have her decisions respected, will now be a part of Sudiksha’s legacy.” 

The Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which is supporting the family’s case, said that the “essential” judgment “reaffirms the appropriate of patients to disagree with their doctors without risking being declared mentally incompetent and having their best interests assessed and enforced by the courts”. 

CLC chief executive Andrea Williams said: “We pray Sudiksha’s legacy will mean a more transparent, life promoting attitude in our hospitals, courts and parliament. The decision of the Court of Appeal acknowledges one in all the terrible errors that were made in the way in which Sudiksha was treated by the NHS and courts.

“Rather than renewing, yr after yr, attempts to legalise assisted suicide, Parliament should urgently review the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to make sure that cases resembling Sudiksha’s never occur again.”