Charlie Gard's mother appeals to hospital to let him go to US for treatment

[Deleted]

http://www.itv.com/news/2017-07-09/charlie-gard/

The parents of terminally-ill infant Charlie Gard have vowed to keep fighting for him to receive treatment.

Speaking near Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) on Sunday afternoon, his mother Connie Yates said: "There's nothing to lose, he deserves a chance."

Ms Yates and Charlie's father, Chris Gard, have been in a lengthy legal battle with hospital doctors.

They want the 11-month-old to receive experimental treatment in the US, but doctors argue it would not help.

Calling for her son to be be given the medication, Ms Yates told reporters: "He's our son, he's our flesh and blood. We feel that it should be our right as parents to decide to give him a chance at life."

Ms Yates said the oral medicine they want for Charlie has an "up to 10% chance of working" and has "no known major side effects".

Mr Gard said there is no evidence Charlie has "catastrophic brain damage". He added: "He should have had this chance a long time ago now.

"They said that it wasn't fair to leave him on the ventilator for three months for a treatment they didn't think was going to work.

"He's now been left for seven months with no treatment."

Ms Yates added: "If he's still fighting, we're still fighting."

The couple delivered a petition to the hospital of more than 350,000 signatures, calling on doctors at GOSH to allow Charlie to receive experimental treatment abroad.

Supporters, some of whom had travelled from the US, held banners and placards reading "Save Charlie Gard".

The couple were speaking after two United States congressmen said they would table legislation to give Charlie and his family US resident status in a bid to allow them to travel there for experimental treatment.

It comes ahead of a fresh hearing of Charlie's case in the High Court on Monday.

Charlie has a rare, degenerative genetic condition which affects the cells responsible for energy production and respiration and leaves him unable to move or breathe without a ventilator.

Doctors had previously won an order to say Charlie's life support should be turned off in a case that went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

But on Friday GOSH announced it had applied to return to the court "in light of claims of new evidence relating to potential treatment for his condition" in the wake of an offer from a US hospital to ship an experimental drug to the UK to help treat Charlie.

Honestly I have lost a lot of sympathy for the parents

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

http://www.itv.com/news/2017-07-09/charlie-gard/



Honestly I have lost a lot of sympathy for the parents

I still have sympathy...but sympathy doesn't change reality.

[Deleted]

I still have sympathy...but sympathy doesn't change reality.

My sympathy dropped when it became apparent the parents want to keep him alive for selfish reasons

[Independent voter]

I'm sure someone here will pay for it. Is there a law the baby can't leave the country?

[chazus]

Honestly I have lost a lot of sympathy for the parents

...why? They're fighting to give their child a chance. Unless I missed something.

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for selfish reasons

What are those reasons? Wanting their child to survive?

[Spectral]

As long as they're willing to pay for it or raise the money, I really can't see a good reason to not allow them to do so.

[Deleted]

...why? They're fighting to give their child a chance. Unless I missed something.

Because the professionals have already said his quality of life can not be reversed and this experimental treatment won't fix that. The child is and will continue suffering unnecessarily. The selfishness is putting your own emotions over the well-beign

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I'm sure someone here will pay for it. Is there a law the baby can't leave the country?

It's not a question of money. It's the fact that this treatment can't save the poor kid. At best it can keep him alive a little longer. Alive and Suffering.

[Elim Garak]

Honestly I have lost a lot of sympathy for the parents

They are wrong, but you cannot blame them as they are not rational about it and it's not their fault. Just hope that the system remains impartial and rational.

[Deleted]

I'm sure someone here will pay for it. Is there a law the baby can't leave the country?

If there is a serious risk to a child's health or well being a court order can prevent parents from taking said child out of the country.

People make stupid decisions, parents make even more stupid decisions than most. Let the poor kid go already.

[WskyDK]

Fuck them.
Their kid is going to die, they're just prolonging his death. He has zero quality of life.

[chazus]

Because the professionals have already said his quality of life can not be reversed and this experimental treatment won't fix that. The child is and will continue suffering unnecessarily

Except it might, and the professionals agree. They just don't want to deal with the hassle and red tape of crossing borders.

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Are you up to date with this entire situation? Because every doctor they have seen and the UN have all agreed that not only are the chances slim he would survive but he would go through an immense amount of prolonged suffering to boot either way.

I Feel like people aren't reading the actual article.

The doctors don't want him to go to another country... But they're okay with the treatment being brought over. It's just medical bureaucracy.

Chances are, the hospital just doesn't want to lose their cash cow to another location if it works.

[Deleted]

Chances are, the hospital just doesn't want to lose their cash cow to another location if it works.

That's not how British hospitals work

[pathora44]

Except it might, and the professionals agree. They just don't want to deal with the hassle and red tape of crossing borders.

No all the professionals agree it won't work. Even the doctor in the U.S. willing to perform the procedure said he has no evidence it would work and he has no reason to believe it will. HAll they would be doing is experimenting on a suffering child with no hope of recovery. You can believe that chocolate ice cream is going to come out your ass if you believe enough it won't make it happen.

[chazus]

That's not how British hospitals work

I'm not sure what that means, since SOMEONE has to pay for the child staying there.

But regardless of that... 10% is more than 0. They should have made an attempt instead of just giving up long ago. This is not a new story, really. A LOT of people have trouble crossing borders to get treatment because doctors block them.

[chazus]

No all the professionals agree it won't work. Even the doctor in the U.S. willing to perform the procedure said he has no evidence it would work and he has no reason to believe it will. HAll they would be doing is experimenting on a suffering child with no hope of recovery. You can believe that chocolate ice cream is going to come out your ass if you believe enough it won't make it happen.

If it were me, and the child basically had no chance at surviving anyway, anything that even has a chance seems like an opportunity.

You know what definitely won't work? Pulling the plug.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure what that means, since SOMEONE has to pay for the child staying there.

But regardless of that... 10% is more than 0. They should have made an attempt instead of just giving up long ago. This is not a new story, really. A LOT of people have trouble crossing borders to get treatment because doctors block them.

Tax payers pay for the NHS, I assumed this was common knowledge

[chazus]

Okay it's pretty evident from this post that you have no idea whats going on and are just running your mouth.

About what? This is something that's in the news all the time, about people being blocked from international treatment due to either legality or politics.

[Deleted]

If it were me, and the child basically had no chance at surviving anyway, anything that even has a chance seems like an opportunity.

You know what definitely won't work? Pulling the plug.

Even if it means they have zero quality of life and constant suffering? No that's called bad parenting

[chazus]

Tax payers pay for the NHS, I assumed this was common knowledge

And? The hospital still needs to get paid. The longer the child is there, the more they get paid. I'm not saying that IS the reason, and this is sort of off topic, but I also wouldn't be surprised.