Family members at odds over whether a brain-damaged elderly woman should be allowed to die are preparing for a pre-Christmas trial in a specialist court.

A judge has heard how the woman has been cared for at home by a son for the past three years.

That son says she should continue to be fed by artificial means.

But specialists and her other three children disagree.

They say evidence shows that she is in a vegetative state and think she should move to a palliative care regime and be allowed to die.

Mr Justice Hayden is due to oversee a trial in the Court of Protection, where judges consider issues about people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves, in London on Friday December 21.

Detail of the case emerged at a preliminary hearing in London on Wednesday.

The judge has ruled that the woman cannot be identified.

Bosses at NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group have begun litigation and asked for a decision about the woman's future.

Barrister Bridget Dolan QC, who leads the health authority legal team, said the woman had been left incapacitated after suffering a head injury three years ago.

Doctors had thought she would die within days.

The son who cares for her told Mr Justice Hayden: "She is not in pain, she is not in distress, she is lying comfortably in her bed."

Mr Justice Hayden is expected to hear evidence from a specialist, the woman's children and a cleaner who works at the woman's home.