Leonard Arthur

Leonard John Henry Arthur (20 April 1926 – 25 December 1983) was a British doctor tried in the 1981 case of R v Arthur, for the attempted murder of John Pearson, a newborn child with Down's syndrome. He was acquitted. An important test case, the trial brought to public attention the dilemmas for doctors in treating severely disabled newborn infants. Arthur felt strongly that doctors should always act in the best interests of the child, with the full support of the parents. In some cases, this meant not prolonging the child's life in order to prevent future suffering. Opinion polls taken at the time of the trial indicated huge public support for Arthur's approach. The outcome of the trial confirmed that 'nursing care only' is an acceptable form of treatment, and that administering a drug to relieve suffering is not an offence, even if it accelerates death. Ambiguities remain, however, about what is legally permissible in the treatment of disabled infants: if a doctor or anyone else intentionally kills a child, however disadvantaged, this would still be considered to be murder. Family A descendant of Sir George Arthur, Arthur's father was a parish priest. In 1954, Arthur married Janet Stella Brain, daughter of Walter Russell Brain, a former president of the Royal College of Physicians made a baronet in 1954. Together they had one son and five daughters. There are coincidences in Leonard Arthur's family that relate to Down syndrome. Arthur's mother-in-law, Janet Brain's mother, was Stella Langdon Down, the granddaughter of John Langdon Down who gave the first systematic description of Down syndrome in 1867 and after whom the syndrome is named. Stella had a brother, John, who had Down syndrome. He was named after his grandfather John Langdon Down, although he was born after his grandfather's death.