An 8-month-old infant in the United Kingdom has been given more time to live after an appeal suspended a judge's mandate that she be removed from life support.
Justice Robert Peel ruled Wednesday that Indi Gregory was to be removed from her life-supporting ventilator on Thursday against the parents' wishes.
Now, the Gregory family has successfully launched an appeal to that mandate, hoping to negotiate the right to seek continued treatment overseas.
Indi Gregory was born in February of this year and suffers from a degenerative mitochondrial disease that will very likely take her life.
In a bid to escape the mandate to remove life support, the Gregorys made emergency arrangements with leadership at the Vatican for her to continue treatment at Bambino Gesù, a Catholic pediatric hospital in Rome.
The parents also secured Italian citizenship for Indi directly from the Italian prime minister.
"They say there isn’t much hope for little Indi, but until the very end, I’ll do what I can to defend her life, and to defend the right of her mamma and papa to do all that they can for her," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media this week.
The Court of Appeals will hear the Gregorys' case on Nov. 10.
Doctors at Queen's Medical Center in Nottingham will not be allowed to remove the infant from life support until the conclusion of the appeals process.
The Italian government has pressed the U.K. courts heavily to turn the child over to their custody.
"Earlier today, with the clock ticking, Indi's Italian guardian made an urgent application to the U.K. High Court calling on Mr Justice Robert Peel to cede jurisdiction of the case to him under Article 9§2 of the 1996 Hague Convention," religious legal group Christian Concern explained Friday.
Christian Concern hopes that the increasingly international nature of the case will force the courts to back down, claiming that "such a development has never happened before in an end-of-life case involving a child in the U.K."
https://www.foxnews.com/world/terminally-ill-uk-baby-gets-more-time-live-parents-fight-judge-bring-vatican-hospital
A terminally ill baby in the United Kingdom, who was the focus of a legal battle involving her parents, British health officials and the Italian government over treatment options, died Monday morning in hospice care.
ReplyDeleteChristian Concern, a group supporting the family, said 8-month-old Indi Gregory died after her life support was withdrawn on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
The infant had suffered brain damage because of a rare condition known as mitochondrial disease.
The child's doctors said her life support should be removed to allow her to die at a hospital or in hospice, but her parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, continued to fight for her to remain on life support, hoping that experimental treatments may extend her life.
The Italian government had solicited permission for her to be treated at Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome. Italian officials even granted citizenship to the baby amid the legal battle over her health care.
Doctors claimed that Indi was not aware of her surroundings and was suffering as they argued she should be allowed to die peacefully. Legal challenges supported by Christian Concern were rejected by British judges.
Indi's case is the latest in a series of legal battles in the United Kingdom between parents and doctors over treatment for children with terminal illnesses. British judges have repeatedly taken the side of doctors in cases about the best interests of the child, despite parental objections to a proposed treatment option.
Court of Appeal Justice Peter Jackson said on Friday that doctors treating Gregory and other critically ill children were put in an "extremely challenging" position by the legal battle. He also criticized "manipulative litigation tactics" that attempt to frustrate orders made by judges after careful consideration.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/uk-infant-indi-gregory-dies-legal-battle-british-government-treatment-options
Indi Gregory, the 8-month-old infant who was forced off life support by the United Kingdom courts system, was baptized before her death despite her family not originally being religious.
ReplyDeleteDean Gregory, Indi's father, said before her death that he was inspired to baptize his daughter by Christian legal volunteers who fought to keep her alive. Dean said he became convinced of the existence of the devil by his family's treatment in the courtroom.
"I am not religious and I am not baptized. But when I was in court, it felt like I had been dragged to hell," Dean Gregory said in a Nov. 6 interview with New Daily Compass. "I thought, if hell exists then heaven must exist. It was like the devil was there. I thought if there’s a devil then God must exist."
Indi Gregory, who died Monday after being forced off life support by the British government, was defended in courts by legal counsel Christian Concern.
She had been offered Italian citizenship by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government and resources for continued care at a Catholic pediatric hospital in Rome by the Vatican. However, Justice Robert Peel ruled on Nov. 8 that the infant was to be removed from her life-supporting ventilator against the parents' wishes. An appeal in the case was denied.
Dean Gregory said his legal counsel's compassion for his daughter — in contrast to the "hell" he experienced in court — convinced him to seek baptism.
"A Christian volunteer visited the intensive care unit everyday and she told me baptism protects you and opens the door to heaven. I was also really struck by my lawyers from the Christian Legal Centre, Louis Browne KC, Bruno Quintavalle and Pavel Stroilov, the way they supported me and their dedication. It was like Indi’s baptism was also a way of recognizing their work."
The father clarified that Indi's baptism was not merely an expression of gratitude to the Christian volunteers who had fought to save his child, saying that he would like to seek baptism for himself and his surviving daughter as well.
"I have seen what hell is like and I want Indi to go to heaven," said Dean Gregory. In fact, I have decided that me and my daughter should get baptized too. We want to be protected in this life and go to heaven."
The U.K. government refused to allow Indi Gregory to continue living on life support despite the Vatican's offer to transfer the infant to Bambino Gesù hospital with Italian cooperation.
Senior U.K. judges Lord Justice Peter Jackson, Lady Justice Eleanor King and Lord Justice Andrew Moylan were the judges who refused the Gregorys' appeal, ruling that the Italian government and the Vatican were "wholly misconceived" in attempting to transfer the ill infant into their custody. (continued)
(continued) Pope Francis expressed his prayer intentions for the Gregory family, with the Vatican announcing the pontiff "embraces the family of little Indi Gregory, her father and mother, prays for them and for her, and turns his thoughts to all the children around the world in these same hours who are living in pain or risking their lives because of disease and war."
ReplyDeleteItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was a public supporter of the Gregorys, making aggressive pushes on the U.K. government to release Indi into her country's custody.
"They say there isn’t much hope for little Indi, but until the very end, I’ll do what I can to defend her life, and to defend the right of her mamma and papa to do all that they can for her," Meloni wrote on social media in the days leading up to Indi's death.
"Indi’s life ended at 01.45am. Claire and I are angry, heartbroken, and ashamed. The NHS and the Courts not only took away her chance to live a longer life, but they also took away Indi’s dignity to pass away in the family home where she belonged," Dean Gregory said Monday following his daughter's death. "They did succeed in taking Indi’s body and dignity, but they can never take her soul. They tried to get rid of Indi without anybody knowing, but we made sure she would be remembered forever. I knew she was special from the day she was born.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/uk-infant-baptized-forced-life-support-father-devil-courtroom