Manchester girl had been at center of protracted legal battle by parents to keep her on life-saving machines or have her transferred to Israel for continued care
A two-year-old Jewish toddler Alta Fixsler died Monday after her life support was turned off following an extensive, but ultimately futile, legal battle by her parents, a family spokesperson said.
“Sad news, little Alta Fixsler’s life support was turned off this afternoon and she died at the hospice with her parents by her side,” a representative of her parents, Chaya and Abraham Fixsler, said.
Fixler had been treated in palliative care in Manchester, England, as she could not breathe or eat without medical help due to brain damage suffered at birth.
Her life support was turned off after the UK High Court ruled earlier in the year that it is in Fixsler’s “best interests” to have life support withdrawn since she has “no prospect of recovery.”
The court also rejected an appeal by the parents, who belong to Manchester’s ultra-Orthodox community, to let her go to Israel for treatment.
But attorneys for the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, who had responsibility for Fixsler’s care, argued that such a move would only cause her more discomfort since she had no chance of improving.
✡️🕯 — SAD ENDING: BDE: Two year-old Alta Fixler has sadly passed away after the hospital in England removed her from life support, with zero mercy on the child, and parents who were fighting to keep her alive. pic.twitter.com/8FraaIjk0F
— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) October 18, 2021
In the High Court ruling in May, Justice Alistair MacDonald said that transferring the toddler to Israel would “expose Alta to further pain and discomfort during the course of transfer for no medical benefit in circumstances where all parties accept that the treatment options now available for Alta provide no prospect of recovery.”
According to the ultra-Orthodox Hamodia newspaper, Fixler was with her parents, who kissed her as she was taken off the machine. A minyan, or quorum of men, also surrounded her bed, offering prayers.
The paper said she survived for a further 90 minutes before she died.
In June Israel’s then-president Reuven Rivlin issued a direct plea to Prince Charles to intervene in the case, calling it “a matter of grave and urgent humanitarian importance.”
“It is the fervent wish of her parents, who are devoutly religious Jews and Israeli citizens, that their daughter be brought to Israel,” Rivlin wrote. “Their religious beliefs directly oppose ceasing medical treatment that could extend her life and have made arrangements for her safe transfer and continued treatment in Israel.”
US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer also raised the issue in a meeting last month with UK Prime Minister Borris Johnson.
Schumer told Hamodiya that he condemned the British decision.
“I extend my prayers and support for the Fixsler family during this very difficult time. May Alta’s memory be a blessing,” Schumer said. “I continue to believe the policy followed here was wrong on many levels and regret that our multiple, and legally and morally, well-grounded pleas were unheeded by the British authorities.”
Reports said she would be brought to Israel for burial after a funeral ceremony held late Monday in Manchester.
As reported by The Times of Israel