Medical Ethics Tony Bland

Hillsborough disaster 1989 the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was held at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England The crush resulted in the deaths of 96 people and injuries to 766 others. The incident remains the worst stadium-related disaster in British history and one of the world's worst football disasters.

Tony Bland Injured in the Hillsborough disaster at 18 years old. Severe brain damage left him in a persistent vegetative state. First person in English legal history to be allowed to die through the withdrawal of life-prolonging treatment including food and water.

Tony Bland The doctors treating him stated that there was no reasonable possibility that he would ever get better.

Tony Bland Four months after Tony was injured, his doctor (Dr Howe) after discussing with Tony’s family what they wanted to happen, planed to ‘withdraw all treatment including artificial nutrition and hydration’ Dr Howe was visited by the police and told that if he ‘withdrew treatment and Tony died, he would be charged with murder'.

Tony Bland Dr Howe and Airedale NHS Trust then applied to the courts asking that: They might lawfully discontinue all life-sustaining treatment and medical support measures, including ventilation, nutrition and hydration by artificial means. Any subsequent treatment given should be for the sole purpose of enabling him to end his life in dignity and free from pain and suffering. If death should then occur, its cause should be attributed to the natural and other causes of his present state. That none of those concerned should, as a result, be subject to any criminal or civil liability.

Tony Bland The court considered that it was in the patient's best interests for treatment to be withheld and that this was in accordance with good medical practice. Tony died on the 3rd March 1993, it may have taken him several days to die from dehydration.

Tony Bland