socialmedian: Baby RB: heartbreak in Court 50 as life of a one-year-old hangs in the balance

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Baby RB: heartbreak in Court 50 as life of a one-year-old hangs in the balance

Source: guardian.co.uk Society

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

A judge in the Royal Courts of Justice must decide the fate of Baby RB, who has a rare genetic condition. His mother believes he should be allowed to die; his father disagrees

It is an unceremonious setting for a decision of life or death. Court 50 in the Royal Courts of Justice is a draughty, medium-sized room with wood-panelled walls and harsh strip-lighting. Thick lever-arch files, stuffed full of notes, are stacked up untidily against the lawyers' benches. To one side of the judge's chair there is a battered cardboard box containing a vacuum cleaner. Were it not for the royal coat of arms, painted huge and gold against a grey panel of stone, the room would look quite unremarkable.

But it is in these prosaic surroundings that the parents of a one-year-old boy known only as "Baby RB" are facing one of the most agonising decisions of their lives. Baby RB suffers from congenital myasthenic syndrome, an extremely rare genetic condition that has left him with almost no muscle control. He has been on a ventilator since an hour after his birth and is barely able to

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