UK order denying disabled man food, water until he dies draws criticism from US organization

A UK court order denying nutrition and hydration until death to a 28-year-old man who sustained a brain injury in 2020 is drawing criticism from an organization that advocates for medically vulnerable patients.

U.S.-based Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network identified the man as Fahim and called on UK authorities to reverse the ruling, according to a Sept. 8 press release published by Christian Newswire.

Bobby Schindler, the network’s president, compared Fahim’s case to the years-long legal battle over his sister, Terri Schiavo, who had been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state and died in 2005 after her feeding tube was removed by court order.

“This case represents the tragic consequences of allowing courts or medical authorities to determine that a person’s cognitive disability makes his life no longer worth living,” Schindler said. “Fahim is not a diagnosis, a disability, or a medical condition. He is a human being whose life possesses God-given, inherent dignity and value.”

Fahim’s mother, Farah, cared for him for five years after his injury before he was moved to a care facility in 2025, according to the release.

Farah said in a video included in a Sept. 8 press release from the Christian Defense Coalition published by Standard Newswire that her son had been progressing under her care before he was removed from her home.

“He was making a lot of progress, and sadly he was taken from me 16 months ago,” she said. “In those 16 months, I’ve been banned from seeing my son…And now he’s been given the diagnosis of being in a vegetative state, and the state has ordered that food and hydration be withdrawn and that his life should come to an end through starvation.”

In England and Wales, the law considers clinically assisted nutrition and hydration a form of medical treatment, according to a 2018 UK Supreme Court ruling. When a patient cannot decide for himself, a court may determine whether continuing treatment is in his best interests under Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Schindler concluded with a call to defend the medically vulnerable, saying: “Every human life deserves protection, especially those who cannot speak for themselves.”