The Supreme Court has ruled that end-of-life care can be withdrawn from patients in a permanent vegetative state without consulting a judge. The UK's highest court upheld a decision which meant that a man with an extensive brain injury should be allowed to die without his family going before a judge. Dr Peter Saunders of the campaign group Care Not Killing Alliance said that the ruling had removed an important legislative safeguard and described it as a "retrograde step". Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn