A desperately ill seven-month-old baby may be given potentially life-saving medical treatment against the wishes of her devout parents following a High Court ruling yesterday.

The child’s doctors had asked Mr Justice James Holman for consent to carry out a bone marrow transplant on the girl, known only as “A”, after her parents put their faith in a miracle of God rather than invasive surgery.

Even though the judge said he respected the mother and father’s religious beliefs, he felt that he “must leave entirely out of account any possibility of a miraculous cure”.

He told the court: “A is more than merely a baby. She is a living human being with a future as well as a present, to whom, despite her disease, modern medicine and science may be able to give a full life.

“I am convinced that A should be given the opportunity. I hope that the parents will feel able to accept my judgment.”

The little girl suffers from haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), an invasive disease that eats into vital organs such as the liver, bone marrow and brain. Untreated it is invariably fatal.

A bone marrow transplant offers the baby a 50 per cent chance of a normal life. Equally, however, the operation may not work. It could kill her or leave her disabled.

The treatment “will be lengthy, painful and distressing, and could be very painful indeed,” the judge said.

He added that the parents “believe that she should enjoy the quality of such life as remains to her and not undergo the treatment”.

The judge heard the evidence in private and, while giving judgment in open court, ordered that there should be no identification of A, her parents or the hospital involved.

He said the parents were a happily married, well-educated professional couple with a good understanding of scientific matters.

Over a period of eight weeks between March and May this year A was very ill and underwent prolonged, painful and damaging treatment, the judge said. “Being a small baby, she could not articulate or describe her pain and distress and one cannot know her agony of mind or body.

“Her parents were undoubtedly deeply affected by the experience and the sight of their child undergoing so much suffering. They do not want their child to have to undergo such an ordeal again.”

He added: “The mother said in her oral evidence that she does not accept as a medical or scientific fact that if there is no transplant A will die and die relatively soon.

“She said, ‘I am a Christian and both me and my husband have faith and hope that God can heal our daughter and our conviction is that He will heal her. Our belief in a miracle gives us the ability to make decisions for her quality of life, even if short term’.”

The judge said the parents still had the final control over whether A had the treatment or not. He said that the parents had said at the hearing that, were he to make the finding he has, they would “most probably” feel they should co-operate.