Mum ordered to stay silent on baby Charlie
BABY Charlie Gard’s desperate mother was warned yesterday that she can only attend a medical conference about him if she vows not to interrupt.
Connie Yates was ordered to stay quiet if she is to sit in on next week’s meeting between doctors discussing her seriously sick child.
Mr Justice Francis’s decision followed suggestions that she and partner Chris Gard should be barred from the meeting at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
They have regularly interrupted High Court proceedings about their son’s treatment and walked out of the hearing last week.
Yesterday’s decision came as the American doctor who has offered to help 11-monthold Charlie was named for the first time.
Mr Justice Francis lifted a legal restriction preventing Dr Michio Hirano, professor of neurology at New York’s Columbia University from being identified.
He believes he can tackle genetic condition MDDS, which has left Charlie fighting for his life. Described in court as being at the “forefront of his field”, he claimed last week the drug he has pioneered could stop muscle wasting and help build brain growth.
One of his former patients Art Estopian Jnr is said to have enjoyed a “new lease of life” after being treated with the medicine in a trial which he oversaw.
The court heard yesterday that Dr Hirano is due to visit Great Ormond Street Hospital on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the case with specialists treating Charlie.
Mr Justice Francis was told a “full and open” discussion might not be possible between experts with Mr Gard, 32, and Ms Yates, 31, present.
But it was agreed Ms Yates could sit in on the meeting – as long as she remained quiet for parts of it.
The couple, from Bedfont, west London, want their son to fly to the US to undergo the treatment on offer from the neurology professor.
Great Ormond Street claims there is no evidence Charlie can recover and want him to be allowed to die with dignity.
The case continues.