UK Hospital Orders Child's Death, Parents Fight to Save Him

The family of a baby with a rare genetic condition is racing against the clock and the courts to keep their son alive.

Charlie Gard was born with a form of mitochondrial disease, a condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage. Doctors in the UK say it's time to take the baby off of life support and allow him to "die with dignity."

His parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, want to take him to the U.S. for a pioneering treatment that they hope will save his life. They've already raised £1.3million through a major fundraising campaign.

Back in April, Yates and Gard were told by a judge at the High Court that Charlie's life support machine must be turned off, however the couple appealed that decision.

Three Court of Appeal judges upheld the High Court ruling on May 25. 

At the last minute, Britain's Supreme Court agreed to review the case--they too ordered the life support machine to be cut off. 

Katie Gollop QC, for Great Ormond Street hospital, had told the Supreme Court that: "The (alternative therapy in America) would take time and over the weeks and months Charlie would be forced to remain in his parlous condition: he can't see, can't hear, can't cry, can't swallow. He has a mechanism that causes his lungs to go up and down. We don't know whether he suffers pain."

Now, the last hope in the couple's fight to save their son is the European Court of Human Rights, which Monday ordered doctors to continue Charlie's life support until midnight on Tuesday so that they can examine the case.

A spokesman for the court in Strasbourg, France, said making such a measure was "exceptional" and said no decisions about whether or not the case would be analyzed at a hearing had been made.

Richard Gordon QC, who leads the couple's legal team previously told the Supreme Court: "We say Charlie is being deprived of his liberty at Great Ormond Street Hospital."

"They would not wish to do anything that would cause Charlie harm," he added. "The state is not entitled to cause a child's life to be extinguished."