Despite their son being granted permanent residency in the United States, a judge is prohibiting Charlie Gard's parents from transporting their son to the U.S. without a court order. Next week, a judge will issue a decision on whether or not Charlie will be permitted to travel to the United States at all. The judge's decision will hinge on whether or not there is "new material" that could change his mind.
Gollop QC asks judge to confirm that parents cannot take Charlie abroad without a court order, despite US residency. Judge confirms this.
— Joshua Rozenberg (@JoshuaRozenberg) July 21, 2017
Charlie's parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, raised over $1 million to pay for their son to travel to the U.S. for an experimental treatment, but the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was not in Charlie’s best interest to travel to the United States. Other hospitals in Europe have stepped up and offered to care for Charlie, but those transfer requests have been denied as well.
Charlie suffers from an extremely rare mitochondrial disease, and as a result of his condition he has seizures and is dependent on a ventilator. At the beginning of July, following the European Court of Human Right’s ruling, he was ordered to be taken off of life support, but there have been several delays. Further, Charlie's parents say that their pleas to take their son to pass away at home (as per their palliative care plan) have been ignored. Since then, Charlie has been examined by an American doctor, who believes that there is a small chance that his condition could be improved.
Charlie will turn one on August 4.
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