The Supreme Court of Ireland ruled Friday that a hospital may withhold medical treatment contrary to the wishes of the parents of a child with severe injuries.

“The withholding of treatment to a child does not necessarily require parental consent to be lawful if it based on a properly made decision as to the best medical interests of the child and it would be contrary to medical ethics to provide the treatment,” the court wrote in its Jan. 22 decision “In the matter of JJ”.

The boy, John, had an accident in June 2020, and has since been in hospital. He has significant physical injuries, many of which he is not expected to recover from, as well as brain injuries believed to be irreversible.

The Court said the case raised “difficult, troubling and complex” issues about when the State may intervene to permit medical decisions to be taken about children contrary to their parents wishes. However, it stressed the case did not involve any move to accelerate death or raise issues about euthanasia.