The mother of a young woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state for almost a decade has asked the High Court to make orders allowing her to die.
The woman suffered a massive brain injury ten years ago and doctors said there was no hope of recovery. However at the time her mother wanted tube feeding to continue as she feared her daughter would starve to death.
The court heard the brain injury happened in 2011 and her mother still does not know precisely what happened. She had a call to say her daughter had a seizure.
The teen had suffered several heart attacks and was on a ventilator for 22 days. The family agreed the ventilator could be switched off as she was not expected to survive but she started to breathe on her own and was tube fed on consent of her family.
In her emotional evidence to the High Court the mother said she had read about people recovering from severe injury and "hoped for a miracle", adding: "You learn very quickly we don't live in Hollywood."
Now the mother wants the court to allow her daughter to have what she has described as "a natural and dignified death".
Doctors say the woman's condition is incurable and will not improve. She has no brain function, no awareness and suffers from severe seizures.
While she does not feel pain, her body is clearly under great stress and her condition is deteriorating.
The seizures she suffers from were described as "horrendous" to watch as she makes screaming sounds resembling crying.
Her mother became upset as she described how her daughter had once been full of life and laughter.
She said she had been private about her body and would never want to be in her current position.
She said her daughter marked another birthday four years ago and her friends had stopped coming to see her. "It hit me she will never ever recover and I decided I would help her leave this miserable existence."
"She has done her penance and is in limbo, she's neither in this world or the next. I believe her soul is gone and it is just her body that is being kept alive. The spark is gone."
During a conversation years ago her daughter remarked that she would never want to be brain-damaged in a wheelchair or in nappies and, if that happened to her, to let her die.
While she had previously asked for the feeding tube not to be removed, she said she had insufficient information. The hospital had been very good but had not set out the facts about what the future would hold, she said.
The woman's sister also supports the application. She said it was heartbreaking to see her sister enduring horrific and terrifying seizures and she had no dignity.
Her sister said the pandemic had given more perspective on the true nature of her sister's situation. "We feel bad because we can't move 5km but she can't move at all," she said.
The High Court President Ms Justice Mary Irvine, has to decide based on the evidence and the law whether or not to make the orders.
Senior Counsel Andrew Fitzpatrick said this was a case no mother would ever want to bring but his client had come to court to assert her daughter's constitutional rights.
The Constitution recognises the sanctity of life and the presumption of taking all steps to prolong life, he said.
However, there is no "absolute" duty to preserve life at all costs and her family wanted her to be allowed a natural and dignified death.
The hearing continues on tomorrow.
