The family of a Christian woman in a coma are begging judges to stop doctors switching off her life support.
They said the devout 54-year-old grandmother, a former NHS hospital worker, would want to be kept alive and ‘have a chance of life’.
But medics believe it would be kinder to stop giving her food and drink, and let her die.
Although she is not conscious, the woman – who cannot be named – can blink when asked to, squeezes the hands of her daughter and grandchildren, and responds to their voices, a court heard.
Her daughter told judges her mother ‘would choose life over death because she loved life’.
Yet senior judges have ruled that doctors at King’s College Hospital in London where she is in intensive care can stop feeding her.
They said it was in her ‘best interests’, more than six months after she suffered a heart attack and went into the coma, to have ‘life-sustaining’ food and drink withdrawn – which is planned to happen this Thursday.
But the woman’s family and friends, who gave evidence to the Court of Protection in the High Court, are demanding more time to let her recover.
Her adult daughter told the Mail: ‘This is utterly unfair and so cruel. We are all horrified at what is happening, and now we are in a desperate race against time to save her.’
The family have been refused permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal, and are seeking an emergency intervention from the European Court of Human Rights.
They are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, which warned the case had implications for the assisted suicide debate. Chief executive Andrea Williams said: ‘This case shows how, in the assisted suicide debate, judges cannot be trusted to protect life.’
King’s College Hospital said: ‘This has been a very challenging situation for everyone involved. Our thoughts continue to be with the patient’s family at this difficult time.’