Pope, Trump weigh in on baby’s life-support case

HEALTH CRISIS /

LONDON — Charlie Gard, who turns 11 months old Tuesday, was born with an extremely rare genetic disease. He is blind and deaf, and he cannot breathe or move on his own.

The London hospital that is treating Charlie went to court to request permission to remove him from life support; his parents want to take him to the United States, where they believe that an experimental treatment has a chance — however remote — of saving his life.

Three courts in Britain agreed with the hospital, as did the European Court of Human Rights, which last week rejected a request by the parents to hear the case, in which they had argued that the hospital was violating the boy’s right to life.

Pope Francis and President Donald Trump have now also weighed in, adding another dimension to an extraordinarily difficult bioethical and legal matter that pits Britain’s medical and judicial establishment against the wishes of the child’s parents.

A Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, told Vatican Radio on Sunday that the pope had been following the parents’ case “with affection and sadness” and praying “that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end is not ignored.”

Trump, who was not known to have expressed a view on the matter previously, wrote on Twitter on Monday that if the U.S. could help, “we would be delighted to do so.”

It was not clear if the views of the parents — who in recent days appeared to have accepted the finality of the decision — had changed in light of the new remarks.

Charlie was born on Aug. 4, 2016, with encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome.

His parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, both in their 30s, have been waging a long and emotionally wrenching legal battle to keep him alive, and they have raised more than 1.3 million pounds, or about $1.7 million, to help finance experimental treatment in the U.S.

The hospital has not indicated when it would cut off life support.