Gard spokesperson: Baby Charlie is effectively ‘a prisoner of the state’
Written by News on 16/07/2017
Critically ill baby Charlie Gard has been "taken prisoner by the NHS and by the state", a spokesperson for the family has told Sky News.
Alasdair Seton-Marsden, who represents Charlie Gard’s family to the press, complained that if they were rich instead of "ordinary people" their child would be free to receive treatment in the US.
"Baby Charlie wouldn’t have become what is essentially – and these are my words – a prisoner of the state. The child is effectively being taken prisoner by the NHS and by the state."
:: Developments at the High Court on Friday
Specialists at Great Ormond Street hospital do not believe that Charlie has any chance of surviving his critical illness and believe his life-support should be turned off.
Charlie’s parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates are currently making their case in the High Court seeking a ruling allowing their 11-month-old son to travel to New York for experimental treatment.
The trial therapy would be delivered by Dr Michi Hirano, a professor of neurology at the Columbia University Medical Center, who gave evidence to the court on Thursday.
Dr Hirano said that he believed there was now a better chance than there was when he previously gave evidence three months earlier.
He is due to travel to London on Tuesday to examine Charlie.
:: Timeline: Parents’ battle to save Charlie Gard
Writing for Sky News, legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg said that Charlie Gard’s parents had "achieved more" during a week of High Court action than "during the past five months of their legal battle with Great Ormond Street Hospital".
(c) Sky News 2017: Gard spokesperson: Baby Charlie is effectively ‘a prisoner of the state’
