Teenager at centre of right-to-life fight dies

A TERMINALLY-ILL 18-year-old man who was at the centre of a right-to-life legal dispute between his parents and doctors has died.

Alexander Elliott’s case hit the headlines in February when a judge gave specialists working for the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust permission to withhold treatment.

Mrs Justice Hogg analysed the case at a hearing in the Court of Protection – where issues relating to sick and vulnerable people are considered – in London.

Doctors said they feared that Mr Elliott had no more than two weeks to live and a neurosurgeon said treatment was “futile” but the teenager’s parents – Brian and Olya Elliott – disagreed, asking the judge to allow chemotherapy to continue.

Mrs Elliott launched what Mrs Justice Hogg described as “a passionate fight” at a late-night hearing and judges were told at subsequent hearings that Mr Elliott had remained alive and surpassed expectations.

A solicitor representing the Elliott family said Mr Elliott had died.

Mrs Justice Hogg made an order barring reporters from identifying anyone involved while Mr Elliott was alive.

Mr Elliott’s father paid tribute to his son, who had a brain tumour: “My son was a courageous fighter, and the very definition of brave. He went in his own time, with his dignity and autonomy intact. Had the trust succeeded in their application in February, we would have been denied his company over these last few months, and he would have been denied the last four precious months of his life.”

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said: “Although very upsetting for his family, Alex had reached a point where all medical and surgical treatment options had been exhausted and any further intervention would have been futile and risked causing him great distress.”