Airedale NHS Trust v. Bland

Airedale NHS Trust v. Bland [1993] 1 All ER 821 HL is a House of Lords legal decision in England that allowed non-treatment of those in a persistent vegetative state.

It concerned the life of Tony Bland, a Liverpool F.C. supporter who was injured in the Hillsborough disaster. Bland suffered severe brain damage and was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The law in England allowed for withdrawal of treatment from newborns but not from adults. The decisions of the appellate courts in Bland changed this and it is now legal for doctors to withdraw treatment from those in persistent vegetative states.