The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff Reports
Posted: Monday, January 01, 2018 12:28 PM
Parents Of Charlie Gard Drop Application To Fly Baby To US For Treatment
11 month old Charlie suffers from a rare mitochondrial disease which has already caused him severe brain damage. His parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, have fought a legal battle to bring him to the US to receive experimental therapy which is administered there and to keep him on life support.
However, doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, where Charlie is being treated, were allowed by British judges and the European Court for Human Rights to turn off his life support so that he may die peacefully and without further pain.
The denial of the parents' right to attempt to save their child has faced international criticism, including from US President Trump.
A lawyer for the parents announced Monday that they would no longer seek to bring Charlie to the US.
