Medical science has the ability to prolong life and this can now outstrip its ability to treat the underlying illness.
These incredible advances have huge cost implications for a financially strained NHS and offer up complex questions relating to the quality of life of the child.
Today, Channel 4 Documentaries announces the commission of a two part series, My Baby’s Life: Who Decides?
Love Productions has gained unprecedented access to the families of children on life-support machines – and the doctors who care for them in Southampton Hospital's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.
This documentary is an intimate, sensitive and heart-breaking account of the lives of those children who can be kept alive but probably never cured. Filmed over the year that the Charlie Gard case gripped the nation, a powerful observational series delves deep into both sides of this highly emotive debate. Asking: Is it ever right to let a baby die?
While some parents cling lovingly and desperately to a faint glimmer of hope, others who without question care for their very sick child choose to take the impossible decision to end their children's suffering.
Head of Documentaries, Nick Mirsky, said: “This series is among the most important we will broadcast this year. Set inside Southampton’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, the medical team and Ethics Committee offer a window on some of the most challenging dilemmas facing today’s doctors. It is real privilege to be able to reflect the thought and compassion of the team that work there, and I am delighted to have such an experienced and accomplished filmmaker as Kira Phillips leading the project.”
Dr Peter Wilson, consultant in paediatric intensive care at Southampton Children’s Hospital, said: “This programme is a landmark moment in engaging the public with the discussions that take place between clinicians, patients and their families on a daily basis and the value of strong relationships and communication for everyone involved in the care process.
“We often fail to talk openly about the ethics of medical care in society but it is an integral and routine part of life in acute hospitals and this documentary provides real insight into the active role families play in the care that is delivered every day.
“It is also an opportunity to reflect on the situations surrounding recent high profile cases and how the details of these decisions can be distorted during public debate as the circumstances are often much more complex than they seem to those not directly involved.”
Professor Anneke Lucassen, a physician specialising in clinical genetics and chair of the clinical ethics committee at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said; “Difficult ethical decisions are a routine part of everyday clinical practice. The clinical ethics committee aims to support staff by providing a place for reflection, opinion or advice to facilitate a process for arriving at a decision.
"We are really pleased to be part of this project to help promote and engage people this important aspect of clinical care."
