Charlie Gard: Parents to hear final ruling on US treatment
Written by News on 13/06/2017
A couple who want to take their terminally ill baby son to the US for treatment will find out whether the European Court of Human Rights will offer help after exhausting all their UK legal options.
Chris Gard and Connie Yates want 10-month-old Charlie Gard, who has a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, to undergo the nucleoside therapy trial in the US.
The couple, from Bedfont, west London, have asked European Court judges in Strasbourg, France, to consider their case.
Judges are expected to make an announcement later on Tuesday.
They have told doctors in London to provide life-support treatment to Charlie until midnight on Tuesday as they examine papers filed by his parents’ lawyers.
Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where Charlie is receiving care, have said the therapy in the US is experimental and will not help him.
They have argued that life support treatment should be stopped.
In April, a High Court judge ruled in favour of the doctors.
Mr Justice Francis concluded that life support treatment should end and said Charlie should be allowed to die with dignity.
Three Court of Appeal judged upheld that ruling in May and three Supreme Court justices dismissed a further challenge on Thursday.
Charlie, who was born on 4 August last year, has a form of mitochondrial disease – a condition which causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.
Lawyers representing his parents say they should be free to make decisions about their child’s treatment, unless it could poses a risk of significant harm.
(c) Sky News 2017: Charlie Gard: Parents to hear final ruling on US treatment
