British judge to decide if baby Charlie Gard can die at home

by Dramelin 4:00 AM 0 comments

LONDON — A British judge is expected to decide Wednesday whether terminally ill baby Charlie Gard can go home to die.
Chris Gard and Connie Yates  — the 11-month old infant’s parents — on Monday ended a months-long legal battle to take him to the United States for experimental treatment.
Charlie suffers from mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare genetic disease.
He is brain damaged, cannot breathe unassisted and is deaf and blind.
His parents accepted Monday that his condition has deteriorated to the point where the experimental nucleoside therapy developed by Michio Hirano, a professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, would not work.
His parents want the High Court judge to grant them their "last wish," for their son to die at home in west London.
Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital in the British capital, where Charlie has been cared for since he was admitted in October, say he should remain at the hospital or be taken to a hospice due to the difficulties of providing him with the appropriate care at home.
The hospital has not given an indication when it will turn off his life-support machines.
"We are about to do the hardest thing that we will ever have to do, which is to let our beautiful little Charlie go," the infant`s father, Chris Gard, said outside the court in London on Monday.
He said he did not expect his son to live beyond his first birthday on Aug.
In a statement Tuesday, Dr.
Hirano said: "I became involved in Charlie`s case when I was contacted by his parents, and I subsequently agreed to speak with his doctors to discuss whether an experimental therapy being developed in my lab could provide meaningful clinical improvement in Charlie`s condition.
"Unfortunately, a MRI scan of Charlie`s muscle tissue conducted in the past week has revealed that it is very unlikely that he would benefit from this treatment.
" He said he had no financial interest in the treatment being developed for Charlie`s condition.
The case has received widespread attention worldwide with Pope Francis and President Trump weighing in to offer assistance to Charlie and his parents.
In Britain, the courts make right-to-life decisions, not the patients or families, as is the case in the United States.
READ MORE: Read or Share this story: https://usat.
ly/2vZqO7O.