Unic Press UK: After the European Court of Human Rights ‘technically’ ruled Thursday that the Great Ormond Street Hospital could go ahead to stop the life-support treatment of Charlie Gard, the United States president Donald Trump has offered to help the terminally ill baby, Charlie. Pope Francis also weighed in.
Trump said:
If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2017
Pope Francis, in a statement issued by the Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, prays for the baby and the parents, wishing that the desire of Charlie’s parents “to accompany and care for their own child to the end will be respected.”
To defend human life, above all when it is wounded by illness, is a duty of love that God entrusts to all.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) June 30, 2017
The 10-month-old baby Charlie, who is presently on a life-support treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, was diagnosed with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome – a rare genetic condition.
Charlie Gard’s parent had raised over £1 million for further treatment, but the medics at Great Ormond Street Hospital argued that any further treatment will be experimental, unlikely to help the baby.
The parents of the baby challenged the position of the hospital, but lost in the High Court, Court of Appeal and the UK Supreme Court. The matter went to the European Court of Human Rights, but this court did not intervene.