Charlie Gard dies in hospice care

Charlie Gard, the 11-month-old baby whose parents battled the courts to take him to the United States for treatment, has died, his family said Friday. Photo courtesy Go Fund Me

July 28 (UPI) — Charlie Gard, the terminally ill 11-month-old at the center of a high-profile court case, has died in hospice care, his parents announced Friday.

The baby, who died days shy of his first birthday, had a rare genetic disease that left him unable to move or breathe.

“Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie,” his mother, Connie Yates said in a statement.

On Monday, the parents ended a months-long legal battle to take him to the United States for experimental therapy with an American neurologist. The child’s parents raised nearly $2 million in the failed bid to take him to the United States for treatment.

In Britain, courts make right-to-life decisions, not patients or families. Doctors in Britain said the experimental theory had little chance of success and said it was in Charlie’s best interests to shut off life support.

The American doctor who offered the treatment flew to Britain to examine Charlie and determined the therapy would fail.

“The window of opportunity no longer exists,” the parents’ lawyer, Grant Armstrong, told the British High Court in London on Monday. “For Charlie, it is too late … treatment cannot offer a chance of success.”

Thursday, High Court Judge Nicholas Francis had given Charlie’s parents until noon to come up with a plan with the hospital treating him to put him in hospice care. He was moved to hospice, where his ventilator was shut off.

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