Charlie Gard, British baby at center of legal battle, dies

This is an undated hand out photo of Chris Gard and Connie Yates with their son Charlie Gard provided by the family, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London. The parents of critically ill infant Charlie Gard, Monday July 24, 2017 withdrew their court fight seeking permission to take the child to the United States for medical treatment. Chris Gard and Connie Yates wept as their attorney revealed the results of brain scans. The 11-month-old has a rare genetic condition, and his parents fought hard to receive an experimental treatment. Doctors said it wouldn't help and contended Charlie should be allowed to die peacefully. (Family of Charlie Gard via AP)
This is an undated hand out photo of Chris Gard and Connie Yates with their son Charlie Gard provided by the family, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London. The parents of critically ill infant Charlie Gard, Monday July 24, 2017 withdrew their court fight seeking permission to take the child to the United States for medical treatment. Chris Gard and Connie Yates wept as their attorney revealed the results of brain scans. The 11-month-old has a rare genetic condition, and his parents fought hard to receive an experimental treatment. Doctors said it wouldn't help and contended Charlie should be allowed to die peacefully. (Family of Charlie Gard via AP)

LONDON — Charlie Gard, the critically ill British baby at the center of a contentious legal battle that attracted the attention of Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump, died Friday, according to a family spokeswoman. He would have turned 1 next week.

Charlie suffered from a rare genetic disease, mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which caused brain damage and left him unable to breathe unaided.

His parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, raised more than $1.7 million to take him to the United States for an experimental medical therapy they believed could prolong his life. But Charlie's doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London objected, saying the treatment wouldn't help and might cause him to suffer. The dispute ended up in court.

Charlie's case became a flashpoint for debates on the rights of both children and parents, on health-care funding, medical interventions, the responsibilities of hospitals and medical workers and the role of the state.

Alison Smith-Squire, a family spokeswoman, confirmed to The Associated Press that Charlie died Friday, but no further details were released. In a statement, Yates was quoted as saying "our beautiful little boy has gone, we're so proud of him."

After months of legal battles, High Court Judge Nicholas Francis ruled Thursday that Charlie should be transferred to a hospice and taken off life support after his parents and the hospital that had been treating him failed to agree on an end-of-life care plan for the infant.

Under British law, it is common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents' right to decide what's best for their offspring. The principle applies even in cases where parents have an alternative point of view, such as when religious beliefs prohibit blood transfusions.

The case made it all the way to Britain's Supreme Court as Charlie's parents refused to accept decisions by a series of judges who backed Great Ormond Street. But the Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts, saying it was in Charlie's best interests that he be allowed to die.

The case caught the attention of Trump and the pope after the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene. The two leaders sent tweets of support for Charlie and his parents, triggering a surge of grassroots action, including a number of U.S. right-to-life activists who flew to London to support Charlie's parents.

The hospital reported that its doctors and nurses were receiving serious threats over Charlie's case and London police were investigating.

While offers of help from the Vatican's Bambino Gesu children's hospital in Rome and doctors at Columbia University Medical Center in New York were enough to reopen the case, the High Court ultimately decided the proposed treatment wouldn't help Charlie. His parents gave up their fight Monday after scans showed that Charlie's muscles had deteriorated so much that the damage was irreversible.

"Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn't save you," his parents wrote when they announced their decision. "We had the chance but we weren't allowed to give you that chance.

"Sweet dreams baby. Sleep tight, our beautiful little boy."

Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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