A judge has ruled that a three-month-old boy should be taken off life support, despite his parents' pleas to give him more time.
NHS bosses asked Mrs Justice Lieven for permission to take Midrar Ali off a ventilator after claiming he was already dead.
However, mum and dad Karwan and Shokhan Ali, 35 and 28, from Manchester, argued the tot was showing signs of recovery.
Mrs Justice Lieven sided with the NHS today after a trial at the Family Division of the High Court in Preston.
In her judgement, she quoted a doctor's clinical notes about Midrar's condition.
They said: “Midrar has no prospect of recovery from his injury. He will not regain consciousness.
"He will not regain the ability to breathe independently or survive without mechanical ventilation.
"He has no perception of the world around him and this will not return... his brain is not functioning and will not recover.
"Eventually, Midrar’s other organ systems and his heart will also die as a consequence of this injury, even if mechanical ventilation is continued."
The doctor added that the child would develop pneumonia and his muscles would waste away if he stayed on life support.
They added: "I do not believe that he has the capacity to feel pain or distress, so this deterioration will not be distressing for him.
"It will however, be an undignified and unkind way to allow his death to take place.
"It will also place a significant burden of distress onto his family and onto those who are caring for him given the futility of these interventions and the associated unkindness.”
In a preliminary hearing, barrister Neil Davy, representing Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said keeping the child on life support was not dignified.
Mrs Justice Lieven previously said the evidence before her was that Midrar had suffered "brain stem death".
She said the "real issue" she would have to decide was whether the little boy was "dead already".
Mr and Mrs Ali wanted this week's trial, which started on Monday, delayed so that another doctor could examine Midrar at Saint Mary's Hospital, in Manchester.
But Mrs Justice Lieven decided that delay would not be in Midrar's best interests.
She said three specialists involved in Midrar's care, plus a specialist from another hospital, had already examined the little boy and decided ending life support was the right option.
"This is an incredibly tragic case," said the judge.
"My heart absolutely goes out to the parents."
Midrar has been receiving life support treatment in an intensive care unit since shortly after his birth.
Complications during birth led to him being starved of oxygen and suffering brain damage.
