The appeal of parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates to send their terminally ill baby to the United States for experimental treatment has been rejected by both the United Kingdom Supreme Court and the European court of human rights.
The ruling also lifted a court order that allows doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital to keep 10-month-old baby Charlie Gard on life support.
Against his parents' wishes, baby Charlie will be taken off life support on Friday, June 30. Chris and Connie are spending the last few hours with their son before the life support withdrawal.
"We and most importantly Charlie have been massively let down throughout this whole process," his parents wrote on a Facebook post on Thursday.
"Charlie will die tomorrow knowing that he was loved by thousands," they said.
The Story Of Baby Charlie Gard
Baby Charlie was born "perfectly healthy" at a full term on August 4, 2016, but after a month, his parents noticed that he was less able to lift his head or support his body weight compared to other babies his age.
Doctors detected that baby Charlie had a rare inherited genetic disease known as mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS), which causes brain damage and muscle weakness. It turns out, both his parents were carriers of a faulty gene.
Months later, baby Charlie became more lethargic, his breathing shallow. In October, he was transferred to the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Legal Battle To Save Baby Charlie's Life
Both Chris and Connie wanted to take baby Charlie to the United States to receive an experimental treatment called nucleoside. In January this year, a crowdfunding page was set up to help finance baby Charlie's therapy.
In a turn of events, however, doctors at Great Ormond concluded that nucleoside, which was not designed to cure the disease, will not improve baby Charlie's condition.
When parents do not agree, it is standard legal procedure to take the decision to the court. Charlie's parents disagreed with the hospital's conclusion, and that is exactly what they did.
In the first week of March, officials at Great Ormond asked the court to rule that the life support treatment for baby Charlie should stop. They told the judge that baby Charlie could only be fed through a tube and could only breathe through a ventilator.
By April, the judge said doctors could halt the life support treatment after analyzing the case at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. The judge concluded that a palliative care regime would be in the best interests of baby Charlie.
In May, Chris and Connie took the case to the Court of Appeals. However, after analyzing, the Court of Appeals dismissed the case.
On June 8, Chris and Connie lost the legal battle in the Supreme Court. Connie broke down and screamed in tears as the justices announced their decision.
Twelve days later, judges in the European court of Human Rights began investigating the case after lawyers that represented Charlie's parents sent written submissions.
On June 27, however, the European court refused to intervene in the case. A spokesperson from Great Ormond Street hospital said there would be "no rush" to change Charlie's treatment.
On June 30, Charlie's life support will be removed.
#CharliesFight
Richard Gordon QC, who represented Chris and Connie at court, said Charlie's parents wished to exhaust all possible options. He suggested that Charlie might be being unlawfully "detained" and that the judges should not intervene in Chris and Connie's exercise to parental rights. He and his other colleagues said the proposed therapy in the United States would cause Charlie no "significant harm."
On the other hand, Katie Gollop QC, who represented doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, argued that further treatment would leave baby Charlie in a "condition of existence." She said the "experimental" treatment would not help Charlie at all.
"There is significant harm if what the parents want for Charlie comes into effect," said Gollop. "The significant harm is a condition of existence which is offering the child no benefit."
