Viewers have flooded the grieving parents of a tragic baby girl with support after seeing them take the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support.
Eight-month-old Mimi died from a heart defect in desperately sad scenes on Channel 4 documentary My Baby’s Life: Who Decides? on Thursday.
To survive, she needed an operation to insert a tube into her neck to help her breathe but, weighing only 6kg, she would have been too little to survive the surgery.
So her mum and dad, who declined to be identified on camera for fear of reprisals on social media, took the ultimate decision every parent dreads — to let her go peacefully, a decision backed by medics.
Dr Peter Wilson, a paediatric intensive care consultant at Southampton General Hospital, where the programme was filmed, said: “This is an usual situation. We very rarely have families begging us to stop.
“The respiratory team feels that each individual bit of her is potentially fixable, but if you add it all up together then she’s not going to necessarily have the quality of life her family would want for her.
“So, there’s a real moral distress around this for us because we are so used, as doctors now, to fixing things, even if we don’t believe it’s the right thing to do.”
Mimi’s devastated mother said: “When I was pregnant it was just a heart problem, ‘We can fix it and she can live a normal life’. That’s why I carry on this one.
“I feel I did the wrong thing for her. She’s suffering a lot. She’s breathing hard.
“I tried to give her a good life. I had the hope. I tried everything. I don’t want her to suffer.”
Dr Wilson reassured her: “We absolutely agree. Genuinely, this is the right thing to do.”
Viewers were moved to tears and took to Twitter to back the decision.
Mimi’s parents. So brave. Such a tough decision to have to make. #MyBabysLifeWhoDecides
— JoppaRoad (@CCCheriton) March 15, 2018
Just watched channel 4 #MyBabysLifeWhoDecides. Mimis parents did not want to be identified because they were worried about people reaction. Don’t know about anyone else I have the most upright respect for them hard hard decision
— MissM1978 (@MissM1978) March 15, 2018
Love and prey for mimi and her family. So strong and brave. I wish they never felt that they had to hide due to our ignorent society that we live in. #mybabyslifewhodecides
— gina (@Mydailymotherb1) March 15, 2018
Those poor, brave parents of Mimi. Absolutely heartbreaking but brave decision. I can’t begin to imagine how they feel. So sad #MyBabysLifeWhoDecides
— Brenda Hobbs (@Brenda_Hobbs) March 15, 2018
Mimi’s parents are unbelievably brave #mybabyslifewhodecides and doing the absolute best for their baby
— Suzanne (@NotthatSuzanne) March 15, 2018
Would like to say to mimi’s parents you are so very brave & made the right & kindest decision for your little girl xx #mybabyslife
— stephanie raymond (@countessraven15) March 16, 2018
Absolutely heart breaking viewing. No one has the right to judge. I’m so proud of the care our #nhs delivers to so many poorly children and their families. @NHSEngland #MyBabysLifeWhoDecides
— Laura (@wheelie_awesome) March 15, 2018
Oh wow, ANYONE on here slating them poor parents need to get in the bin. #mybabyslife
— Emma Muir (@emmamuir25) March 15, 2018
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My Baby’s Life: Who Decides? continues Thursday, March 22 at 9pm on Channel 4