CHARLIE GARD

One can only have sympathy for the parents of Charlie Gard, the terminally ill child who has been at the centre of a prolonged court battle. However, one can also question whether their actions have been in the best interests of their young son, or more about their own wants and desires.

Charlie, who was born in August 2016, has a rare and terminal genetic condition and has been in hospital since October; his muscles have wasted and he has severe brain damage. There is no cure for his condition and no treatment, other than some experimental therapy only available in the USA. Doctors treating Charlie at Great Ormond Street were of the opinion that nothing could help Charlie and continued treatment would simply prolong his suffering, including the experimental therapy which his parents wanted to try.

In March, doctors at Great Ormond Street agreed that Charlie's life support should be turned off and that he should be allowed to die. The parents disagreed and a legal battle ensued, at each stage of which the courts have agreed with the hospital's view that Charlie's best interests would be best served by allowing him to die.

 On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights, the last port of call in the parents' legal battle, declined to overturn previous rulings in British courts and it has now been indicated that the child's life support will be switched off later today. Naturally, the parents are dismayed but have nowhere else to take their case.

Appearing on radio and television today, Charlie's parents have expressed their sadness but have said little about Charlie. What they have stressed is THEIR desire to take him home, to bath him and sit with him; whether such things would be good for their son doesn't seem to have been considered. Once his life support is switched off, Charlie is likely to die very quickly as he has, for some time, only been able to breathe with the aid of a ventilator and has been fed through a tube; his quality of life has been minimal.

Again I say that one has to have sympathy for his parents but one must also consider the life that Charlie has endured. What is most important is to look to his best interests rather than those of his parents, and those best interest are now served by letting him slip away quietly, without fuss and without any further argument or recriminations.