Heartbroken
Baby Charlie’s parents in tears as judges rule to let him die
CHARLIE Gard’s mother ran from the Supreme Court in tears yesterday after judges turned down her son’s last hope of survival.
Connie Yates, 31, screamed, ‘No, they’re lying,’ as three judges ruled it was not in the severely ill ten-month-old’s best interests to travel to the US for treatment.
She and Charlie’s father Chris Gard, 32, have made an emergency application to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital agreed Charlie, who has a rare genetic disorder, will be kept on life support until 5pm today so the court can consider the application. Miss Yates, a carer, sobbed as it became clear the court was refusing permission to appeal against an order that Charlie should be allowed to die.
As the decision was confirmed she ran from the courtroom shouting: ‘ They’ve put us through absolute hell.’
Outside court she sobbed: ‘They’re lying, they’re lying. Why don’t they tell the truth?’
Charlie’s disorder saps energy from his muscles, lungs and other organs and he needs a ventilator to keep him alive.
But his parents say he responds to them and shows signs of improvement.
They want him to have experimental treatment in the US.
Some 83,000 supporters donated more than £1.3million to pay for Charlie to have the treatment privately.
But the Supreme Court yesterday backed the High Court and Court of Appeal, which had both accepted evidence that it would be ‘futile’ for Charlie to have further treatment as he has irreversible brain damage and no realistic prospect of recovering.
Doctors said it was ‘unethical’ to keep him alive, but Charlie’s parents, from west London, denied the treatment would cause their son pain, as it would just involve giving him medication in his milk. They told a previous hearing it was his ‘only remaining hope’.
A family friend said: ‘Connie and Chris are in agony. Their hearts are just broken.
‘This was the worst possible outcome and they are inconsolable. No one could love a child more than they do. They simply cannot understand why as they are not allowed to take their son to the US.
‘All they can do now is hope that the European Court will hear the case.’
The hospital trust said it had to put Charlie’s interests first.
‘The worst possible outcome’