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UK Police Drag Father From Dying Daughter's Hospital Bedside

A doctor has brought legal proceedings against UK police after he was dragged from the bedside of his terminally ill six-year-old daughter in August 2019.

This video shows officers from the Northumbria Police removing the father, Dr Rashid Abbasi, after a dispute between the family and doctors over the care of their daughter, Zainab, who died in September 2019.

Zainab had respiratory problems and a rare neurodegenerative illness. She was being kept alive by a ventilator, which the hospital wanted to remove. Her parents, both doctors, wanted to continue treatment.

The Christian Legal Centre said Abbasi and his family had begun legal proceedings against the police for wrongful arrest, and were considering legal action against the NHS.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said the family showed “an extraordinary amount of restraint in the face of their brutal treatment by the police and the hospital. They genuinely feared that their only daughter and youngest child was about to die,” she said.

Zainab died days before a High Court hearing about discontinuing her treatment was due to begin.

Northumbria Police said they responded to a call from the hospital of a man being violent and abusive towards staff and a report that he had assaulted a consultant.

“While we recognised this was a very distressing time for him and his family, our duty was to ensure the safety of all those present," the spokesperson said.

Police said the 58-year-old was arrested on suspicion of breach of the peace and suspicion of assaulting police officers but that no further action was pursued.

“In the limited time we have been given to look into this, we have reviewed the body worn footage from the incident which sets out a very different picture to the limited version of events which have been presented to us," the spokesperson said. Credit: Northumbria Police via Christian Concern via Storyful