Critically ill baby’s family back at court for another round of treatment fight
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The parents of a critically ill baby are preparing for another round of a life-support treatment fight.
A judge is scheduled to reconsider issues relating to eight-month-old Indi Gregory at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Tuesday.
The hearing has been listed before Mr Justice Peel after a campaign group supporting Indi’s family said an Italian hospital had offered to treat the little girl.
Indi’s parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth – who are both in their 30s and from Ilkeston, Derbyshire – have lost fights in the High Court and Court of Appeal in London.
They have also failed to persuade judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France, to consider Indi’s case.
Judges have heard that Indi, who was born on February 24, has mitochondrial disease, a genetic condition that saps energy.
Specialists say Indi is dying and hospital bosses at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where she is being cared for, asked him to rule that doctors could lawfully limit treatment.
Medics say the treatment Indi receives causes pain and is futile.
Her parents disagree and want treatment to continue.
Mr Justice Peel had ruled, after a recent trial, that doctors could lawfully limit treatment – appeal judges in London and ECHR judges in France refused to overturn that decision.
We face no alternative but to go before a judge again and to beg for Indi to be allowed a chance to continue her life
Indi’s parents expect medics to begin withdrawing treatment soon.
But the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Indi’s parents, said on Monday that there had been a “dramatic development”.
A spokesman said a “leading paediatric hospital in Italy – the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome – had agreed to accept Indi for treatment”.
He indicated that Mr Justice Peel would be asked to give Indi’s parents permission to transfer her to Italy.
“We face no alternative but to go before a judge again and to beg for Indi to be allowed a chance to continue her life,” said Mr Gregory.
“We begged doctors at the Queen’s Medical Centre and the lawyers representing the (hospital) trust to work with Indi and us so secure her transfer to Rome, but they have refused.
“We have been given a real chance by the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital for Indi to get the care she needs and to have a longer life.”
