In a controversial decision, a court in France has decided a British couple cannot send their child to the U.S. for treatment.
A couple from London is utterly distraught after a decision came down from the court recently on their son Charlie, declaring that he would be taken off of life support despite their wishes. Chris Gard, 32, and Connie Yates, 31, want their 10 month old son to go to America to undergo a therapy trial for a rare genetic condition that has caused brain damage, but a court has ruled against that.
The European Court of Human Rights decided that even though the couple managed to raise £1.4million via online fundraising to take their son to the United States, they felt that the opinions of British doctors should take precedent and have decided to take Charlie off life support.
Specialists said that therapy in the U.S. is experimental and wouldn’t help, noting that life support should be ended. Charlie’s parents took their legal battle to judges in Strasbourg, France, but the ECHR rejected their please on Tuesday in a final decision that will mean the life support of the baby will be shut off.
“He was born on the 04/08/16 (4th of August) perfectly healthy but then he started to decline,” the GoFundMe page states. “We took him into hospital at 8 weeks old and none of us have been anywhere near home since. We have been with Charlie day in, day out & watched our poor baby get weaker and weaker, he now needs a ventilator to breathe but we have never lost hope throughout all this time! After endlessly researching and speaking to Dr’s all over the world we found hope in a medication that may help him and a Dr in America has accepted him in his hospital. It hasn’t been tried on anyone with his gene before (he’s only number 16 in the world ever reported) but it’s had success with another mitochondrial depletion syndrome called TK2 which is similar – it’s helping children to get their strength back and live longer! We strongly feel as his parents that Charlie should get a chance to try these medications. He literally has nothing to lose but potentially a healthier, happier life to gain.”
