The Starship Children’s Hospital has taken to court a Kiwi-Indian couple who are not allowing morphine to be administered to their 15-month-old boy, who doctors say “has a human right to pain control and comfort”.
Mivaan Sarna has been on ventilator support twice since he was born in February 2024. Doctors say Mivaan has “multiple congenital anomalies with multiple organ insufficiencies and/or organ failures”.
His parents say opiates like morphine could potentially worsen their son’s respiratory problems – and could even be life threatening – a medical complication doctors say is possible but which shouldn’t take away Mivaan’s right to pain relief.
“Mivaan has a profound congenital multisystem disorder which includes anatomical upper airway obstruction, profound neurodevelopmental delay, abnormal muscle tone/control, failure to thrive, vertebral anomalies, renal anomalies, and impaired gastrointestinal absorption. There is no unifying diagnosis,” Dr John Milledge, M’s supervising paediatrician, told the High Court in an affidavit on May 23, 2025.
The hospital told the court Mivaan is “very uncomfortable, and currently in a lot of pain”, and that they are unable to administer the medicines they consider to be clinically fit.
“Mivaan’s family are unwilling to accept the severity of Mivaan’s prognosis. They are also unwilling to consent to pain medication (asides from paracetamol) and wish for Mivaan to be intubated if he becomes unable to breathe on his own.”
The hospital went on to add: “It is acknowledged that Mivaan may stop breathing at any time due to his condition and/or as a collateral side effect of the opiate medication.”
Judges have placed Mivaan under the guardianship of the High Court until June 25, 2025 effectively allowing doctors to administer opiate till then against the parents’ wishes.
Mivaan’s father told The Indian Weekender his son has shown an adverse reaction to morphine in the past. “After administration, he becomes unconscious and enters a deep sleep, during which he forgets to breathe, leading to episodes of severe breathlessness and respiratory distress,” he says.
The hospital is also disputing the parents’ wish that Mivaan be put back on ventilator, if need be, citing mainly the risk that the child may never be able to come off that life support.
M’s father says that is deeply concerning. “Most alarmingly, we have now been told…if Mivaan’s breathing becomes critical, the hospital will not support him with a ventilator,” he says.
“As parents, this is terrifying and completely unacceptable. We believe our son deserves every possible chance at life, and we are committed to doing everything we can to get him the best medical care available.”
The Indian Weekender wrote to Dr John Milledge on Thursday for his comments on Mivaan’s treatment but hadn’t heard back till Friday evening.