{"id":72782,"date":"2025-10-10T23:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T23:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/72782\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T23:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T23:54:08","slug":"judge-permits-doctors-to-amputate-leg-of-man-unable-to-make-his-own-decision-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/72782\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge permits doctors to amputate leg of man unable to make his own decision \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/high-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/high-court\/\">High Court<\/a> judge has permitted doctors to amputate the leg of a man who would otherwise be at risk of life-threatening consequences. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Mr Justice Barry O\u2019Donnell made the order on Friday, in circumstances where the man, who is aged in his 60s, lacks capacity to make the decision. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The tissue in his lower left limb is necrotic, or dead, and is the primary cause of his suffering with delirium, the court heard. His lack of capacity mainly arises from this delirium, which is causing him to have delusional and disordered thoughts. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">The infection is a result of complications arising from attempts to remedy a blockage in a graft inserted in the man\u2019s left leg during an earlier femoral bypass, a procedure used to reroute blood around a blocked blood vessel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Solicitor Natasha McKenna, appearing for the hospital where the man is being treated, said his views on the amputation have fluctuated. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">However, according to a consultant psychiatrist who assessed him, the man is unable to understand clinical information conveyed to him, or to weigh that information. The psychiatrist told the court that attempts to treat his delirium have been unsuccessful. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">A consultant vascular surgeon familiar with the man\u2019s care told the judge it was a matter of time before the patient developed a life-threatening infection if an amputation was not carried out. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The surgeon said a below-knee amputation may suffice, but it was not possible to say until the point of surgery. It was possible that an above-knee amputation would be necessary, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The surgeon added that the prospect of rehabilitation in his lower limb was non-existent. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Solicitor Niall McGrath, the man\u2019s court-appointed advocate, said the man\u2019s family was supportive of the surgery taking place. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Mr Justice O\u2019Donnell said he was satisfied, on the evidence before the court, that the man was lacking capacity to make decisions related to his treatment. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The judge said he believed the court\u2019s intervention was required in order to protect the man\u2019s constitutional rights, including his right to life, and right to bodily integrity. He granted the orders sought by the hospital. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">The judge said the case presented a \u201cstark choice\u201d between granting permission for the amputation and allowing the man to live out his life with an amputated limb, or not permitting the operation, in which case the man\u2019s delirium will likely increase, and he will likely suffer a life-threatening infection and the ongoing pain of a necrotic limb.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">The judge said his orders were predicated on the man\u2019s continued lack of capacity up to the operation, scheduled for Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He adjourned the case to next week. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A High Court judge has permitted doctors to amputate the leg of a man who would otherwise be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,73,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-72782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-high-court","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}