Midrar Ali: Dad of baby boy in legal battle 'pressured' by medics

Midrar Ali suffered brain damage during his birth

The father of a baby diagnosed as brain dead has told a court he felt pressurised to allow his treatment to stop.

St Mary's Hospital in Manchester said three tests confirmed brain stem death and it wants to withdraw ventilation for four-month-old Midrar Ali.

His father who wants medics to continue treating him told the High Court in Manchester he showed "signs of life".

Karwan Ali said medics keep taking his "rope of hope... away from us".

Midrar Ali's parents want Midrar's treatment to continue

Midrar was starved of oxygen and suffered brain damage when the umbilical cord came out ahead of his birth.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust which runs St Mary's Hospital said Midrar has remained on a ventilator since and has never breathed.

It argued his organs were deteriorating and continuing to treat Midrar was "undignified".

Mr Ali, a biomedical scientist, told the hearing at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre he had felt pressured throughout from the hospital to end his ventilation which the hospital has denied.

He said one consultant said there was "only one door that Midrar can get out" meaning there was "no choice but to take the ventilator off and if Midrar cannot open the door himself they will help him open the door".

'Rope of hope'

He said: "I kept showing them signs of life. As a biologist I have never known a dead person who could live beyond four months.

"Circulation, heart regulation and breathing... are controlled by the brain stem."

He said he had a "right to defend" his son, adding: "I am holding a rope of hope that burns in my hand every time I see Midrar, but why do the hospital and consultants keep taking the hope from us?"

Mr Ali, 35, and his wife Shokhan, 28, had applied for a delay to the hearing on Monday but it was rejected.

Mrs Justice Lieven adjourned the case and said written judgment would be handed down at a later date.