Charlie Gard’s Parents Agree to Let Him Die
The parents of Charlie Gard have agreed to abandon their legal battle and to let their son die.
In a heartbreaking story that’s drawn the support of notable public figures, from Donald Trump to Pope Francis, Connie Yates and Chris Gard have been fighting since March to keep their son alive.
But with new scans showing that the 11-month-old has suffered irreversible damage, his parents have agreed to drop their case.
Charlie Gard was born in August last year, in England, and according to his parents, appeared to be a normal, healthy, little boy.
In September, Yates and Gard noticed that Charlie was struggling to lift his head and support himself compared to other babies his age. Charlie was subsequently diagnosed with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome – a rare, genetic disease which causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.
Charlie’s parents wanted to take him to the USA to see specialists there for an experimental therapy, but doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) said that there was no evidence this treatment would help Charlie.
Claiming that keeping Charlie alive was cruel, and that the treatment would merely prolong his process of dying, GOSH went to court to get permission to turn off Charlie’s life support.
According to doctors, Charlie cannot see, hear, move, or make a noise. He is being kept alive by life support machines.
Encouraged by doctors in other countries who had not seen Charlie, Yates and Gard believed that treatment was possible, and so the legal battle began.
Court after court ruled in favour of GOSH, including the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. In early July Charlie’s parents returned to the High Court and were told that they needed to prove that the experimental treatment would work.
Michio Hirano, the US neurologist who originally offered the experimental treatment, came to London to see Charlie. He was expected to offer proof to the courts that Charlie could be helped.
Instead, yesterday Grant Armstrong, lawyer for the Gard family, told the courts that Charlie’s parents are dropping their case. Dr. Hirano was no longer willing to try the experimental treatment after he saw new MRI scans.
In a thinly veiled attack on GOSH, Armstrong said that, “For Charlie, it’s too late, time has run out. Irreversible muscular damage has been done and the treatment can no longer be a success. Due to delay [in treatment] that window of opportunity has been lost.”
GOSH denies that there was ever any hope for Charlie’s recovery, and has stated that Charlie’s parents were misled.
In a heart-wrenching statement outside the court, Chris Gard said, “Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you.”
The life support machines keeping little Charlie Gard alive will be switched off in the next few days.
Image: Connie Yates, Chris Gard & Charlie Gard. [online image] (2017) sourced on 25 July 2017 from http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/03/02/21/3DE00D7E00000578-4276440-image-m-22_1488491219764.jpg
