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I'm a mother. If a doctor had suggested to me that my daughter had no quality of life and should be allowed to die I would have fought tooth and nail against that suggestion. All the medical evidence in the world would not have made me choose otherwise. My argument would be that modern medicine has made such huge advances during my own lifetime that I could never ever be sure that there wouldn't be a cure for whatever her illnesses during her lifetime. What if I allowed her to die and a medical breakthrough occured in a few months time that could have helped her? Today's drugs could keep her free of pain and support her life until such a time as medicine advanced that little bit more in the right direction for her. That pain relief, life support and treatment would be available to us for free on the NHS so I would have no financial reasons to affect my decision.
A doctor's take on things is likely to be more informed and less biased emotionally, and this puts them in a better position to make such a decision. However the doctors may be accused of being biased towards saving costs and bed spaces. If doctors were allowed to take a decision like this one away from a parent without legal backing it's likely that the parents would be the ones who subsequently took court action.
I don't see that the doctors have any choice but to take this decision further i.e. to the courts, where both sides can be heard impartially. I certainly wouldn't want to be that judge though.
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