Charlie Gard's life support treatment must continue until next week, Euro judges rule

Charlie Gard's parents want to take him to the US for pioneering treatment
PA
Hatty Collier13 June 2017

Judges in the European Court of Human Rights have ruled that terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard should keep receiving life support treatment until next week.

Parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard want their 10-month-old son, who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, to undergo a therapy trial in America.

Doctors want to stop his life support and move him to a palliative care regime.

Charlie’s parents, who are in their 30s and come from Bedfont, west London, have asked European Court judges in Strasbourg, France, to examine issues after exhausting all legal options in the UK.

Parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard with their 10-month-old son
PA

Strasbourg judges said on Tuesday that doctors should keep treating Charlie until midnight on Monday June 19.

Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where Charlie is being cared for, say therapy proposed by a doctor in the US is experimental and will not help.

They say life support treatment should stop.

A High Court judge in April ruled against a trip to the US and in favour of Great Ormond Street 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 judges upheld that ruling in May and three Supreme Court justices on Thursday dismissed a further challenge by the couple after a hearing in London.

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