uk news,Charlie Gard hearing parents find out if they get 'final wish' to take son home to die
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A judge will decide today whether Charlie Gard will be able to leave Great Ormond Street Hospital to spend his final days at home.
It has been decided that the 11-month-old baby's life support will be switched off on Monday, July 31.
His mum and dad Connie Yates and Chris Gard abandoned attempts to persuade a judge to let him travel to America for experimental treatment two days ago.
The devastating decision, which the couple said was the "hardest thing we've ever had to do" came after a difficult five-month legal battle.
Little Charlie 's parents were yesterday embroiled in a new High Court fight with doctors over their "last wish" to take their terminally-ill son out of medics' care.Barrister Grant Armstrong, who leads the couple's legal team, said: "The parents' primary position is that Charlie's final days of palliative care...should take place at the family home," he said.
"The parents wish for a few days of tranquillity outside of a hospital setting."
But lawyers representing Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) said there were practical problems and the parents had put forward no clear plan.
The court is expected to hear the final decision today.
Doctor says 'hospice movement in this country allows people to pass away peacefully'
Commenting on the Charlie Gard case, Dr Louise Terry, associate professor and reader in law and ethics at London South Bank University, said: “Medical advances since the development of the earliest ventilators and life support systems have enabled many patients and families to hold onto hope of recovery.
“Often, these hopes are realised but sometimes, even with the current best available scientific and medical advances, including, at times, the use of experimental technologies, a point is reached where nothing more of value to the ill patient can, or should, be offered.
“At this point, hopes of recovery become reframed into hopes of a gentle and loving passing.
“Loving parents wish for nothing more than for their child to feel cherished, loved and protected from pain as their spirit slips away peacefully.
“And this is something that the hospice movement in this country is able to lead the world in.”Medical expert comments on case
Sometimes parents have to “bear the burdens of conditions that they dislike in order to provide their child with a gentle, pain-free passing”, an expert has said.
When complex medical technology is needed, trying to provide this in a home is, for most families, an “unrealistic hope”, said Dr Louise Terry, associate professor and reader in law and ethics at London South Bank University.
But Dr Terry, who is also a member of the St Christopher’s Hospice clinical ethics committee, acknowledged that the “normalisation” of family life might seem desirable.
She said that the “saddest” aspect of the case was the “raising of false hope, particularly by a doctor who had not examined him.”
She added: “Charlie’s parents never lost hope and they fought for him. They harnessed the help of millions around the world and refused to be voiceless.”Judge to speak to doctor to see what help he can offer
The Judge will speak to a doctor who claims he can help Charlie to see what the medic can offer.
A doctor has said he can help with moving Charlie to either the family home or a hospice.
The hearing is currently adjourned but should resume soon, and a judgement should be made later this afternoon.GOSH deny creating "obstacles" for Charlie's parents
The family’s lawyer Mr Armstrong had yesterday suggested to the judge Mr Justice Francis that hospital bosses were placing obstacles in Charlie’s parents’ way.
“The parents wish for a few days of tranquillity outside of a hospital setting,” Mr Armstrong said.
“The parents had hoped that Great Ormond Street would work with them.”
Barrister Katie Gollop QC, who led Great Ormond Street’s legal team, said staff were not creating obstacles.
She said nothing could be further from the truth - she said staff moved heaven and earth for