Toronto parents lose fight to keep infant on support
Child has been in coma since July, with brain not responding to treatment
The parents of an infant girl who has been in a deep unresponsive coma at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children since July have been ordered to consent to have their daughter taken off life support.
A panel of the Consent and Capacity Board has upheld a recommendation from 11 doctors to discontinue life support for one-year-old Kaiomi HallKemp, whose parents have been ordered to consent by Friday, according to a decision announced Tuesday.
The panel’s decision orders the parents to comply with “extubation,” the cessation of artificial feeding and hydration, and the stoppage of CPR and provision of palliative care for their daughter.
Kaiomi has been on life support in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Sick Kids for two months while being treated for a severe brain injury she sustained after drowning in a family bathtub where she had been “temporarily left unsupervised.”
A team of doctors advised early on the child had “no chance of recovery” and that life support treatment could cause further damage to her lungs and other organs.
Her parents objected to the recommendation, leading to a rare application to the Consent and Capacity Board.
The hearing process took six days, including the Labour Day long weekend.
Kaiomi’s parents and their lawyers argued they needed time to explore other medical options. Speaking to the panel, Kaiomi’s mother, Brittany Hall, also said the medical team’s recommendation to remove life support felt “forceful.”
“We’re just asking for time,” she said. “If she has a prospect of life, then I want to pursue that.”
The child’s medical team, however, insisted there is no prospect of improvement in Kaiomi’s neurological status, and that all interventions being used have had no benefit whatsoever.
During the hearing on Sunday, Dr. Andrew Helmers said the infant’s parents have shown a degree of hope that he characterized as “misplaced.”
Helmers said the medical team has the ability to measure various degrees of a functioning brain and forms of stimulation, and all of that is absent in Kaiomi’s case.
“It’s a difficult decision,” concluded lawyer Sam Rogers in final submissions on behalf of the doctors.
“But Kaiomi’s best interest are served by allowing her to pass peacefully.”
Saron Gebresellassi, one of the lawyers acting on behalf of Kaiomi’s mother, told the Star they’re consulting with the family to determine if they will file an appeal.
Gebresellassi noted it’s very rare for Canadian courts to order the discontinuation of life support.
“I believe Kaiomi has a medical future, and I’m very optimistic about what we can do to aid her efforts at recovery,” she said.