Family of teen who died fighting end-of-life legal battle win the right to appeal a controversial judgement on her mental capacity

The family of a teen who died while fighting an end-of-life legal battle has secured the right to appeal a controversial judgement on her mental capacity in an historic first.

Sudiksha Thirumalesh, 19, who suffered from a rare degenerative disease, had been left devastated after a judge ruled that she lacked the mental capacity to make her own medical decisions.

The student, who thanks to a gagging order was known only as 'ST', had launched an appeal to overturn the decision but sadly died before it could be heard.

Her family, who have insisted she had '100 per cent capacity until the very end' have been given permission to continue her legal battle on her behalf.

Granting leave for the appeal, Lady Justice King said there was a 'real prospect of an appeal succeeding and there are compelling reasons for these important issues to be considered'.

It comes as the last of the reporting restrictions in the case which prevented naming the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) as the hospital involved expired.

Doctors at the QEHB, who wanted to remove Sudiksha's life-support, had successfully argued that her refusal to accept her death was a sign of 'delusion' and that the courts should decide her fate.

The remarkable teenager, who was found by two expert psychiatrists to have mental capacity, had vowed to overturn the ruling on her capacity in an anonymous yet powerful interview from her hospital bed in the Mail.

But she sadly died from a cardiac arrest just days later on September 12.

Her parents said the capacity ruling could have far reaching implications for other patients if left unchallenged.

Her father Thirumalesh Hemachandran said: 'We are relieved to have the opportunity to appeal Mrs Justice Robert's ruling. The ruling and restrictions on us left us and Sudiksha powerless and trapped.

'It was clear overreach from the NHS and courts, and we are determined to do everything we can for it to be overturned.

'Sudiksha had capacity until the end, and it was cruel for her to be told she was 'deluded' for wanting a chance to live.

'This system urgently needs to change, and we pray no one else will ever have to go through what Sudiksha and we as a family have been made to suffer this last year.'

The judgement, made in August, came despite two psychiatrists stating that Sudiksha did have 'capacity', with one noting that she was 'comfortable, smiling, alert and in clear consciousness'.

The University Hospitals Birmingham Trust claimed the girl, was 'actively dying' and the kindest course was to 'de-escalate her intensive care'.

Sudiksha, who had mitochondrial depletion syndrome, was left reliant on a ventilator, a feeding tube and regular dialysis after contracting Covid-19 last year.

Despite her difficulties she was determined to travel to Canada for potentially life-extending clinical trials of nucleoside therapy and said she wanted to 'die trying to live'.

However, Mrs Justice Roberts ruled that the teenager must be suffering from a mental 'disturbance' by refusing to accept her doctors' views.

'In my judgment, and based upon the evidence which is now before the court, I find on the balance of probabilities that ST's complete inability to accept the medical reality of her position, or to contemplate the possibility that her doctors may be giving her accurate information, is likely to be the result of an impairment of, or a disturbance in the functioning of, her mind or brain,' the judge said.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre which is supporting the family, said: 'We are pleased that the family now have the opportunity to appeal the ruling from Mrs Justice Roberts which rejected expert evidence backing that Sudiksha did have capacity to make her own decisions and ruled that she was 'delusional' for wanting to take the only chance she had to live.

'That ruling cannot stand and we will continue to stand with Sudiksha's family as they pursue full justice for their daughter.'

Sudiksha: Condemned to die in secret at 19 - Watch the Mail's exclusive documentary here.