If the baby can’t go to the doctor, let the doctor come to the baby. Here is the latest development in the case of Charlie Gard, the baby with a horrendous disease whom British judges won’t allow to come to America for experimental treatment, violating his parents’ wishes, so that he can “die with dignity”: The American doctor who offered to treat him, at the judge’s invitation, will fly to the UK to assess the child’s condition.
If there is a chance the experimental treatment might help, there are indications that the judge may change his ruling.
The doctor is no crackpot, as has sometimes been implied. He is with the Columbia University Medical Center.
Details after the jump.
From Ruth Gledhill, New hope for Charlie Gard as judge invites US doctor to fly to UK to examine him | Christian News on Christian Today:
A doctor from the United States is to fly to the UK this weekend to assess the critically-ill baby Charlie Gard on Monday.
Dr Michio Hirano from Columbia University Medical Center in New York, the world leader on the specialist experimental treatment Charlie’s parents want to try, was named in the High Court in London for the first time this morning.
Mr Justice Francis in the High Court invited Dr Hirano to Great Ormond Street Hospital to examine Charlie.
If he concludes that Charlie could be treatable, his parents will be hoping that they can overturn the current court ban on them taking their 11-month-old son to the US for treatment by Dr Hirano. The parents have raised £1.3 million via crowdfunding to pay for the trip.
The courts have been reluctant to allow Charlie to go because judges so far have concluded that this would only prolong his suffering and there is no realistic chance of him getting better. Great Ormond Street Hospital wants him to be allowed to die with dignity.
[Keep reading. . .]
Photograph from Pixnio, Public Domain
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In