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Baby girl dies after parents accept doctors’ decision to withdraw treatment (23 February 2015)

Date: 23/02/2015
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Baby girl dies after parents accept doctors’ decision to withdraw treatment

A baby girl with an aggressive adrenal tumour who was at the centre of a court battle has died after her parents agreed to doctors withdrawing treatment.

Olivia Stanca, whose first birthday was on Monday, died in her parents arms, after her mother accepted that she had “no more chances” once doctors had made a decision not to give her drugs to reduce her blood pressure.

Doctors were due to make an application in the High Court to withdraw treatment, including renal replacement therapy, on the grounds it was not in the child’s best interests. Last week, the trust obtained a court order which would allow staff at Great Ormond Street the right not to resuscitate Olivia if she suffered a cardiac arrest.

The court order also enabled medical staff to withhold treatment with chest compression or using adrenalin to maintain her heartbeat.

However, her parents Maria and George Stanca from Walthamstow in east London fought against the decision of doctors to allow the little girl to die, after cancer spread to her liver.

Olivia beat cancer following chemotherapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital. However, she suffered from blood infections and experienced severe multiple organ failure on more than one occasion.

Her parents wanted more time to obtain an expert medical opinion to give Olivia every chance of survival.

On Wednesday (18/02//15), Mr Justice Moylan sitting in the Family Division’s Court of Protection was advised that Olivia’s parents had accepted that life support should be withdrawn from their daughter after her condition deteriorated suddenly.

Olivia’s mother Maria Stanca said:

“Following the decision not to give her blood pressure drugs, our beloved daughter Olivia had no more chances – and yesterday at lunch, we decided to keep the promises we made to her.

"We always promised her that we will let her go when she wants to go – we promised to hold her and love her, and we promised to get her out of the intensive care unit.”

It is reported Olivia’s parents removed her from the Intensive care unit and carried her up to the rooftop garden of Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she died in their arms.

A spokeswoman for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We appreciate how hugely distressing the past year has been for them – and we are continuing to support them in every way we can.

“Olivia was an extremely ill child with a very complex and unusual combination of conditions.

“We tried everything we could to strengthen Olivia and give her the best possible chance of survival – having provided her with the maximum level of treatment and 24-hour nursing care on our Intensive Care Unit for the past 12 months.

“Our thoughts are with Olivia's family at this extremely difficult time.”

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