Charlie Gard’s parents have a final request for their son: the chance to take him home to die.
A London high court judge will hear their request today, just one day after Connie Yates and Chris Gard decided to end their legal battle to get their son experimental treatment, Reuters reports. Based on new evidence, the couple said Charlie’s condition has deteriorated too much and there no longer is any hope of the experimental treatment working. When his life support is scheduled to be removed is not yet known.
The 11-month-old British infant has a rare mitochondrial disease and brain damage. His parents and Great Ormond Street Hospital have been in a months-long legal battle over his treatment.
Here’s more from RTE:
Yesterday, the couple said they wanted to “spend our last precious moments” with Charlie.
Ms Yates said she did not expect her son to live until his first birthday on 4 August.
Bosses at Great Ormond Street Hospital have not said when Charlie’s life-support equipment will be turned off.
Charlie’s parents have long expressed the desire to be allowed to put him on hospice and take him home to die. However, their first choice was to take Charlie to the United States for an experimental treatment.
They raised more than $1.5 million for his care. His parents said they knew the chance of the experimental treatment working was slim, but they wanted to try anyway for Charlie’s sake.
However, the courts and hospital refused to allow them to transfer their son to another hospital. About a month ago, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the hospital can remove Charlie’s life support and allow him to die. However, the hospital later agreed to consider new evidence involving Charlie’s condition before taking him off the ventilator.
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But on Monday, lawyer Grant Armstrong, who represents Charlie’s parents, said experts confirmed that it is too late to treat their son.
The BBC reports Armstrong “told the presiding judge Mr Justice Francis that US neurologist Dr Michio Hirano had said he was no longer willing to offer the baby experimental therapy after he saw the results of a new MRI scan last week.”
“This case is now about time,” Armstrong continued. “Sadly time has run out. … Charlie has waited patiently for treatment. Due to delay, that window of opportunity has been lost.”
Hirano previously said Charlie had an 11 percent to 56 percent chance of benefiting from the experimental treatment. He and a group of doctors examined Charlie last week and gave their expert opinions to the judge.
Questions remain about whether Charlie could have benefited from the experimental treatment, had it not been delayed for months during the legal battle, which began in March.
In the Royal Court of Justice in London, Connie stated, “Charlie was left to lie [in Great Ormond Street Hospital] and deteriorate. We wanted Charlie to have the chance … [there] was never false hope, as confirmed by many experts. Now we’ll never know…” Connie and Chris underscored that they “should have been trusted as parents.”
Despite all of his problems, Charlie’s parents – and millions like them – believe that Charlie is a valuable, living human being who should be given a chance to live.
His mother told Good Morning Britain previously that she does not want her son to suffer. She said it has been “absolute living hell” to wait and wonder when the hospital might end his life support.
“He’s our own flesh and blood and we don’t even have a say in his life whatsoever,” Yates said. “We are not bad parents, we are there for him all the time, we are completely devoted to him and he’s not in pain and suffering, and I promise everyone I would not sit there and watch my son in pain and suffering, I couldn’t do it.”
