the poor father he must be so sad

oh, that link is so sad, Wannabe. Poor little love.

Very sad but possibly the right decision to spare this child's suffering.

they've just announced on the radio that the father has withdrawn his opposition to having the life support turned off.

sorry couldn't get p[ast the stupid title of the article

the dr appointed by the father's lawyers has said that it would not be in the baby's interests to have a tracheostomy fitted.

here

but there are lots of people who are vent-dependent, so why is it we're not having these court battles over all of them?

not necassarily and doctors have the same fear of disability as anyone else. Particuarly if they cant cure it. They are often still stuck in the medical model rather than social.

Presumably the doctors have seen an awful lot of vent-dependent people, though?

Mate of mine did a stint in ITU when she was training and was telling me how they counted it a major success when one patient was able to move his eyebrow. (Crashed his motorbike.) No question of withdrawing life support for him - so presumably they wouldn't even think about it if it weren't a real issue for this baby.

people can discuss it though, it does have a affect on others