Marie-Ève Laurendeau and Stéphane Mantha, a Quebec couple, have launched a $3.5-million lawsuit against Montreal Children's Hospital for putting their severely disabled infant daughter back on life support without their approval.

Phébé Mantha, went without oxygen for more than half an hour during a difficult birth in 2007. She is 16-month-old now and is suffering from cerebral palsy and severe developmental delays. She has to be fed by a tube and requires monitoring by the doctor almost every day.

Soon after Phébé's birth, her parents agreed to take her off life support as the doctors at the Montreal Children's Hospital told them that their daughter had severe brain damage and would never be able to breathe or feed on her own. But later on it was found out that the child could breathe on her own, but was only able to accept food through a tube.

The couple has filed the case against the hospital on the account of imposing their morality on the couple by not allowing the baby to die, something which probably she herself would have preferred over life of such misery.

"It is totally unacceptable.… Those people have imposed their view of the treatment to the parents," said Jean-Pierre Ménard, the lawyer representing the couple.

However, none of the allegations have been proved in the court yet.