Judges back parents' bid to name Newcastle and London medics

Rashid Abbasi disputes the care his daughter Zainab - who died aged six - received

Judges have ruled two families who want restrictions lifted on naming medics involved in their children's disputed care can continue with their appeals.

The parents of Zainab Abbasi and Isaiah Haasrup have raised concerns over the removal of life support and treatment at Newcastle and London hospitals.

In 2021, they tried to have the reporting restrictions lifted at the High Court, but were unsuccessful.

However, on Friday three Court of Appeal judges ruled in their favour.

The hospital trusts involved in the care of the two children - Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - had argued that reporting restrictions should stay in place.

The two trusts have yet to say whether they will challenge the appeal court ruling in the Supreme Court.

Zainab's parents Rashid and Aliya Abbasi had raised concerns over the care at Newcastle's Great North Children's Hospital.

Their daughter was born with what judges heard was a "rare and profoundly disabling" inherited neurodegenerative condition and died in September 2019, aged six.

The Abbassi family raised concerns over the care their daughter received in Newcastle

Isaiah died in March 2018, aged 12 months, after having suffered brain damage during birth.

A judge at the time ruled ending treatment was in his best interests but his parents - Lanre Haasrup and Takesha Thomas - were concerned about the care given by King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Hospital bosses subsequently apologised and said improvements had been made to its maternity services.

The treatment of both Zainab and Isaiah was subject to a hearing at the High Court in London, where the judge passed an order which barred the naming of the doctors in reports of the disputes.

Both parents attempted to have this overturned, while the trusts argued reporting restrictions should remain.

Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the Family Division of the High Court, and the most senior family court judge in England and Wales, previously dismissed the families' bids.

But in November, Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, Lady Justice King and Lady Justice Carr considered arguments to overturn the ban at a Court of Appeal hearing.

In a written appeal ruling on Friday, they agreed. Lord Burnett said the families had been critical of the trusts' care.

He said Mr and Mrs Abbasi had made criticisms of medics and that they wished to publicise what they had felt were failings.

'Radical change'

He said their complaints related to both the regime in the paediatric intensive care unit and also individual members of staff.

"They consider that the unit is so dysfunctional that the care of its patients is compromised," he said.

"They hope that, by bringing these matters to the more general attention of the public, an investigation will follow, resulting in radical change."

He added Isaiah's parents had been critical of the trust's care surrounding his birth, and that "King's accepted liability for his brain injury and have settled the parents' claim for compensation".

Lord Burnett said appeal judges considered that medics' right to respect for private life a "significant period after the conclusion of the proceedings" was of "limited weight" - but said the free speech rights of the parents were "strong".

"In both cases the parents wish to discuss and publish details of their experiences and concerns in an area of general public controversy," he said.

The reporting restrictions will remain in place until a decision has been made on a challenge at the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal judges said.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust previously said staff should be free to work "without pressure from disputed commentary".