Charlie Gard Dies After Life Support is Switched Off: Mother Says “Our Beautiful Boy is Gone”

By Steven Ertelt
Live News

Charlie Gard has passed away after his life support was switched off today. His parents said in a post on social media that “our beautiful boy” is gone.

Charlie was at the center of a massive international debate after the hospital where he was receiving treatment for a rare disease refused to allow an experimental treatment to help him and also refused transferring him to another hospital that would allow the treatment.

Charlie’s parents took their fight to numerous courts to protect his life but to no avail. Each of the courts and a British judge argued that it was in Charlie’s best interest to be removed from the life support.

Charlie’s mother, Connie, said: “Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie.”

Leading pro-life advocates mourned Charlie’s death — saying it’s a very concerning harbinger of things to come.

The boy suffers from a rare mitochondrial disease and brain damage. On Thursday, a judge ruled that Charlie will be taken to hospice to die, rather than home as his parents requested.

On Monday, Connie Yates and Chris Gard decided to end the legal battle to get their son experimental treatment. 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.

His parents and Great Ormond Street Hospital have been in a months-long legal battle over his treatment. Their final request to a judge this week was to be allowed to take Charlie home to die.

On Thursday, a judge ruled that Charlie will be moved to hospice and his life support will be removed at a time not publicly disclosed. He will not be allowed to go home, as his parents wished.

Charlie’s parents have long expressed the desire to be allowed to 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 medical care.

Life News continues

Charlie Gard’s Parents End Legal Battle, Say It’s ‘Too Late’ For Treatment"

“A whole lot of time has been wasted. Charlie’s quality of life could have been improved greatly (by earlier treatment)."

By Cassy Fiano
Live Action News

It appears that the battle to save Charlie Gard’s life has come to an end. Today was the final day in a hearing that would appeal court decisions barring Charlie’s parents from taking him to the United States for experimental treatment, which they believed could help his condition. In a shocking turn of events, the lawyer representing Chris Gard and Connie Yates announced that they were withdrawing their appeal instead.

Charlie was originally placed on life support after he became seriously ill. He was then diagnosed with a rare RRM2B mitochondrial depletion syndrome. Initially, his parents wanted to take him to the United States for an experimental nucleoside therapy treatment, which they believed could save his life. 

They raised over $1.4 million for his treatment, but Charlie’s hospital – Great Ormond Street Hospital in London – disagreed that the therapy would be beneficial and insisted that Charlie should instead be taken off of life support. The decision sparked a months-long legal battle, with Charlie’s parents losing appeal after appeal, until the European Court of Human Appeals ultimately ruled against them.

The case garnered international attention. A Vatican hospital offered to take in Charlie for treatment, President Trump offered to help baby Charlie, and United States lawmakers introduced a bill to make Charlie and his parents U.S. citizens. However, the hospital and the courts initially held firm and refused to allow Charlie to be treated elsewhere. The hospital also refused to let his parents take him home to die.

As the controversy grew, Great Ormond Street Hospital eventually requested a new court hearing so new evidence could be considered. An American doctor, Dr. Michio Hirano, traveled to London to examine Charlie and to meet with specialists. 

Dr. Hirano was optimistic that the nucleoside therapy could help Charlie, saying British doctors could be wrong in their diagnosis. Instead, Dr. Hirano said, Charlie could be suffering from muscle weakness, and if this is the case, there is up to a 55 percent chance of therapy helping him.

Live Action News continues

Judge Says Charlie Gard’s Parents Can’t Take Him to U.S. Even Though He Was Given U.S. Residency

By Micaiah Bilger
Life News

Charlie Gard’s parents appeared in court again Friday to discuss the next step in his case.

In the course of the hearing, British high court Justice Francis said their son cannot be moved to the United States for treatment without a court order, squashing hope that a move to grant him residency in the U.S. would help him, according to The Independent.

Earlier this week, U.S. Congressional leaders approved a measure to grant Charlie and his parents permanent residency status in an effort to make it easier for him to receive an experimental treatment. Pro-life Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Washington, led the effort; her daughter also was diagnosed with a fatal condition but survived because of an experimental treatment.

Charlie’s parents and his hospital are involved in an on-going legal battle over his medical care. The 11-month-old British infant suffers from a mitochondrial disease and brain damage.

Chris Gard and Connie Yates want to take their son to the United States for an experimental treatment. They raised more than $1.5 million for his care. His parents said they know the chance of the experimental treatment working is slim, but they want to try anyway for Charlie’s sake.

However, the courts and hospital have 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. The hospital recently agreed to consider new evidence involving Charlie’s condition before taking him off the ventilator.

Justice Francis will consider the new information Monday and Tuesday in court.

Here’s more from the report:
The judge also said Mr. Gard and Ms. Yates cannot take Charlie abroad without a court order, despite efforts by US Congress to grant him permanent residency in the country so he can fly there for treatment, according to [legal expert and journalist Joshua] Rozenberg.

Charlie, who was born on 4 August 2016, has a faulty RRM2B gene, which affects the cells responsible for energy production and respiration, leaving him unable to move or breath without a ventilator.

On Friday, the high court judge also had stern words for protesters outside Great Ormond Street Hospital, where Charlie is located. Justice Francis said protesters for Charlie have disturbed other patients and threatened staff, and he warned them to stop, the report states.

Life News continues

Charlie Gard’s Parents Endure Volatile UK Court Hearing

By Kathleen Ostrowski, Kansans for Life
National Right to Life

A decision whether Chris Gard and Connie Yates, will be allowed to take their rapidly failing son Charlie to the United States to obtain experimental treatment will be held off at least another day or two after a hearing this afternoon in the UK High Court of Justice Nicholas Francis.

That hearing was not without fireworks and a dramatic exit by the parents who vehemently insisted their views had been misrepresented by Justice Francis.

No final court ruling is expected for days, for at least two reasons:

1) further measurement of Charlie’s head–to verify/repudiate brain loss– was ordered to be provided tomorrow. The hospital is insisting that there has been no growth in the size of Charlie’s skull over the past three months since Justice Francis gave the hospital permission to disconnect Charlie’s ventilator. The parents say flatly that is not so.

2) an interdisciplinary panel is now to be convened immediately to attempt to bridge the gap between what the hospital is contending and what the parents and other outside experts on their side are saying.

Charlie is very ill. He has an exceptionally rare and debilitating chromosomal condition –encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS)–in which his cells cannot replenish essential energy. However a natural compound, orally administered, has shown some success as a treatment in the United States. Chris and Connie have been working feverishly since January to get their son to the U.S. to receive that alternative treatment.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and one other unnamed medical facility have offered to treat Charlie, either as an inpatient or by shipping the experimental nucleoside therapy drug to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). But GOSH insists that the therapy has only worked on a variant of Charlie’s condition and would be pointless, if not also painful to the eleven month old child.

COURT VOLATILITY

Justice Francis emphasized going in that Thursday’s proceeding was focused solely on new medical developments relevant to Charlie’s current status.

GOSH had requested the hearing after British Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament she was confident the hospital would not ignore new developments. GOSH subsequently acted to request this hearing after receiving two letters – one from seven doctors and another from an attorney representing Charlie’s parents – claiming the chances of the treatment being successful were higher than previously thought.

Grant Armstrong, the parents’ lawyer in today’s hearing, presented testimony from medical experts that the chances were between 90 and 100% that the treatment being sought in the U.S. could “cross the blood-brain barrier” with as much as a 60% chance of Charlie experiencing muscular improvement, and “meaningful brain recovery.”

National Right to Life continues

Battle Over Charlie Gard Case Continues As US Pastor Says Hospital Didn't Want Him To Pray

By Joseph Hartropp

Christian Today

A controversial American pastor was initially refused permission to pray with Charlie Gard and his parents at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as high-profile publicity continues to surround the case of the terminally ill-baby in London.

Pro-life advocates in the US have voiced their support for the Gard family, while the High Court in London has today said it will hear new evidence in the case.

Rev Patrick Mahoney, 63, is a minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church who visited Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London to pray with the Gard family, but was reportedly blocked from doing so for 'security' reasons, he told the Daily Mail.

Mahoney is an outspoken activist and self-described 'outspoken prophetic voice for ending the violence of abortion'. He has previously been arrested for protesting against abortion. He described his trip to the UK as a 'faith journey', leading a campaign to 'save Charlie's life'. After being denied access to Charlie, he said: 'In 40 years of pastoral ministry, I have never once been denied the right to pray over a patient in a hospital.

'This continues to show Great Ormond Street Hospital's disregard for the wishes of Charlie's parents. First the hospital denies care, and now they deny prayer.' 

However, Mahoney was later allowed to pray with the family. He said on social media: 

'Let's believe for a miracle and that Great Ormond Street hospital would continue do the right thing.'

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Charlie's life has hung in the balance since his birth. The 11-month-old suffers from mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare genetic illness which leads to progressive brain and muscle damage. He is blind, deaf and unable to move or breathe without a ventilator. GOSH determined that he should be taken off his life support.

Christian Today continues

Terri Schiavo’s Brother on Charlie Gard: Why Do Judges and Bureaucrats Decide if He Lives or Dies

By Steven Ertelt
Life News

The following is a statement from Terri Schiavo’s brother Bobby Schindler:

“Charlie Gard’s life is more valuable than British and European bureaucrats realize,” explains Bobby Schindler, President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.

“The central issue of the Charlie Gard struggle,” continues Bobby Schindler, “is not about rationing, limited resources, or even life support. At issue is whether universal healthcare means that bureaucrats and judges will determine appropriate treatment, or whether parents like Charlie’s with the energy, finances, and physicians to care for their child will be allowed to do so.”

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network has served more than 2,500 medically vulnerable patients and families. The Network been instrumental in similar parental rights cases, particularly the case of Jahi McMath who is now home with her family, and baby Joseph Maraachli who was ultimately allowed to die peacefully in his sleep from natural causes at home, surrounded by loved ones.

“We don’t need judges posing as anguished moral philosophers, weighing what makes a life worth living. We simply need them to rule on whether mothers and fathers have an inalienable right to care for their own children. Are we better off in a society where government officials are encouraged literally to separate loved ones from each other? Is it better for Charlie Gard to live and die at home with his family, or in a state institution?”

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network upholds human dignity through service to the medically vulnerable. This mission is expressed by affirming essential qualities of human dignity, which include the right to food and water, the presumption of the will to live, due process rights for those facing denial of care, protection from euthanasia as a form of medicine, and access to rehabilitative care. Visit lifeandhope.com.

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