US hospital says it is willing to aid British baby
BRITAIN/UNITED STATES: A major New York hospital has offered to admit Charlie Gard, the terminally ill infant at the centre of worldwide controversy who has drawn sympathy and support from Pope Francis and President Donald Trump.
New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Centre said they would admit and evaluate Charlie ‘‘provided that arrangements are made to safely transfer him to our facility, legal hurdles are cleared, and we receive emergency approval from the FDA for an experimental treatment as appropriate,’’ the hospital said yesterday.
The decision comes amid an emotionally charged fight for Charlie after a British hospital planned to disconnect the terminally ill infant from life support and declined to move him to the Vatican’s children’s hospital for care. A hospital spokesman in Rome said that London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital turned down the offer, citing legal reasons, but officials were working on a solution.
The US hospital said another option could be to ship the experimental drug to Great Ormond and provide instructions on administering it to Charlie, provided the FDA gives clearance.
Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital President Mariella Enoc said that doctors at the hospital in Rome who study rare diseases are in contact with international experts, including in the United States, ‘‘to develop a protocol for experimental treatment for Charlie’’.
Charlie’s story has captured worldwide attention as his parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, fought in court to be able to try an experimental treatment in the United States to save their son. The case was taken to the European Court of Human Rights, which declined to hear the matter last week, upholding previous court rulings that the therapy would not help him and it was in his best interest to prevent further suffering by withdrawing life support.
Tension mounted after Charlie’s parents appeared in a tearful video statement last week, saying doctors were planning to remove Charlie from life support last Friday at the London hospital. They later said the hospital decided to postpone the termination of care.
It has since turned into a heated debate about a child’s life and death.
Charlie was born last August with a rare genetic condition called infantile-onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, or MDDS, according to court records. Weeks after birth, Charlie was struggling to hold up his head and was not gaining weight. At the two-month mark, he had become lethargic and his breathing had become shallow, court records show. Charlie was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where he has remained since. Earlier this year, doctors concluded that nothing more could be done for him.
- Washington Post