A v Hickey & Ors (Approved)

1.������ This is a profoundly tragic case concerning a young woman who is a ward of court because of devastating brain injuries she sustained following a misadventure of catastrophic proportions some nine years ago. She is in what in medical terms is called a persistent vegetative state. She is artificially fed, and her doctors do not anticipate any possible improvement in her condition.

4.������ Katie was born in 1993 and is 28 years old. Tragically, on a date in 2011, when she was only eighteen years of age, she suffered irreversible hypoxic/anoxic brain injuries following a major cardiac arrest. Katie was taken to Beaumont Hospital where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (�ICU�). She was put into an induced coma and ventilated. An EEG and an MRI scan were carried out which confirmed the presence of severe brain damage.

7.������ Although I will make more detailed findings later in this judgment as to Katie�s medical condition, it is useful to give a brief synopsis of her current clinical presentation.

10.���� The petition was verified by the affidavit of Jarlath Tunney, disability manager for the HSE and supported by a medical affidavit sworn on 27th February, 2020, by Dr Mark Delargy, clinical director of the National Rehabilitation Centre in D�n Laoghaire and a second medical affidavit sworn on 11th February, 2020 by Dr Albi Chiallsery, consultant neurologist at Connolly Hospital. Both doctors averred to the fact that Katie was not capable of making any informed decisions concerning her care and that she did not have the ability to manage her affairs.

11.���� An inquiry as to whether Katie met the threshold for wardship was initiated by court order dated 4th March, 2020, and, by further order made on 25th March, 2020, Bernadette Parte, solicitor, was appointed as Katie�s guardian ad litem . In her affidavit sworn on 24th April, 2020, Ms. Parte helpfully exhibited the notes of various interviews carried out by Eileen O�Callaghan of the Sage Support and Advocacy Service with Katie�s family and friends. I will return in due course to the content of those interviews.