Don't know if many people here are old enough to remember the case of Child B in the news in the mid 90's. I was discussing the use of NHS resources and the difficult decisions that had to be made with regard to probability of success of treatment and remembered this being in the news. Thought I'd look it up on the internet and post a link here as it raises some interesting points.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/319/7219/1258.pdf

http://www.oheschools.org/ohech1pg8.html

http://www.bmj.com/archive/7046ed.htm