After the authorization to put an end to the maintenance of life of a baby suffering from serious illness, the hospital at the origin of this decision asks the justice to reconsider the situation.
The struggle of the parents of little Charlie, an 11-month-old baby with a rare and incurable genetic disease, is not quite over. At the end of June, the British couple saw their last hopes dashed with the unfavorable verdict following their legal action against the hospital which treats their child. The Great Ormond Street Hospital had indeed decided to end the care that Charlie, whose vital prognosis is engaged, has been receiving since October.
Experimental treatment tracks
Determined to have their son treated in the United States, Connie Yates and Chris Gard took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in favor of the hospital. But Friday, twist: the London hospital reversed its decision.
“Two international hospitals and their researchers have indicated in the last 24 hours that they have new elements for the experimental treatment,” said the hospital. in a press release to justify this sudden turnaround.
Nucleoside therapy
Little Charlie suffers from Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome, a neurodegenerative disease that results in progressive muscle weakness and affects vital organs like the heart and lungs.
Convinced that nucleoside therapy, a method developed in the United States by a neurologist, could allow Charlie to regain certain functions, his parents started a kitty to take their baby to America for treatment.
A treatment considered “futile” in view of the risks incurred
The problem is that this method has never been proven on such a serious pathology. This is why the London Hospital refused the request – as well as the courts and the European Court – deeming “futile to administer treatment to Charlie with so little certainty that it would be of benefit to him and that it would only do prolong their suffering unnecessarily “
However, the affair did not fail to go around the world and to capture the attention of Pope Francis, as well as Donald Trump, who did not hesitate to publicly show their support for Charlie’s parents. “If we can help little Charlie Gard, as our British friends and the Pope ask, we would be delighted to do so,” Donald Trump tweeted. A petition put online a few days ago “” Save Charlie Gard “has already collected nearly 400,000 signatures on the Internet.
Review of the case in court
In its statement, the London Hospital did not mention the names of the two international institutions that offered to help, but one of them appears to be the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, at the University Medical Center. from Colombia.
According to the statement from the Great Ormond Street hospital, the court decisions prevent him from transferring the child, but he nevertheless wants the justice to re-examine the case taking into account the new elements: “The Great Ormond Street hospital gives the High Court the opportunity to objectively assess the allegations of these new elements. “
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