From WN

The emotionally charged case of Charlie Gard came to a quiet end on Friday as the 11-month-old infant died, according to BBC News.

In a statement issued on Friday evening, his mother Connie Yates said: “Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie.”

World leaders from Pope Francis to United States President Donald Trump tried to intervene to offer treatment for the rare genetic condition known as mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome that made it impossible for the infant to see, hear, move or breathe on his own.

His parents were fighting in court to transfer him to the U.S. to receive an experimental treatment but were denied.

Yesterday, a British judge approved a transfer plan for the infant to be moved to a hospice facility to die, just days after his parents accounted they were giving up the attempts to seek experimental treatments.

Since Charlie could not breathe on his own, the hospice planned to remove his life support shortly after the transfer takes place.

Yates said that they wanted to take him to the U.S. for experimental treatment earlier this year, ‘If we don’t get this opportunity, he’s going to die. And even if it doesn’t work, which I think it will, we know that we’ve done everything.’

However, the doctors treating the infant at Great Ormond Street Hospital said the experimental therapy would likely not benefit him and may even harm the child since it had not undergone clinical trials.

British law allows for doctors to override the wishes of parents in treatment decisions if it is in the best interests of the child.

The legal fight over the decision lasted for several months, drawing international attention from people supportive of the parents and of the doctors at the hospital.

Last week the American neurologist who was offering the experimental treatment examined new MRI scans of Charlie and concluded with the doctors that the treatment would not be effective.

Charlie’s father, Chris Gard, who had an outburst in court later told reporters that he and Yates were preparing for their son’s death.

“We are now going to spend our last precious moments with our son Charlie, who unfortunately won’t make his first birthday in just under two weeks’ time,” he said.

Charlie’s parents still say that the baby might have been helped if the treatment had been administered earlier.

Gard and Yates wanted to take their son to their home to die, but his doctors said that it would be difficult to provide the special ventilators needed for his life support there.

The parents then asked if he had to be in hospice care that they ventilate him for several days so they could spend more time together, but the hospital objected since hospices were not set up for the ongoing care for a ventilated child for an extended period of time.

The judge approved a plan for Charlie to be transferred to an unspecified hospice, where he will “inevitably” die after being taken off life support.

Yates said the hospital was refusing “us our final wish.”

“We just want some peace with our son, no hospital, no lawyers, no courts, no media, just quality time with Charlie away from everything to say goodbye to him in the most loving way,” she said. “We’ve had no control over our son’s life and no control over our son’s death.”

The hospital released a statement that explained how Charlie had “severe and complex needs” and that an attempt to keep him alive outside of the hospital would be dangerous and make “an unplanned and chaotic end to Charlie’s life,” which the hospital called “unthinkable.”

“Every single one of us wishes there could have been a less tragic outcome,” the hospital said.

–WN.com, Maureen Foody

For more on this story and video go to: https://article.wn.com/view/2017/07/28/Baby_Charlie_Gard_Dies_in_Hospice_After_Life_Support_Withdra/