Indi Gregory: Parents lose bid to take critically ill baby home for end-of-life care
Indi Gregory should remain in hospital or be in a hospice when her life support ends, a judge has ruled, saying moving her home would be "too dangerous" given the clinical complications.
Wednesday 8 November 2023 17:59, UK
A critically ill baby's life support will not allowed to be ended at home, a High Court judge has ruled.
Indi Gregory was born in February with mitochondrial disease, a genetic condition that saps energy.
Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, Indi's parents, have continually fought to overturn multiple rulings by UK courts to keep their daughter on life support.
Last weekend, the couple lost an appeal to overturn a ruling by Mr Justice Peel, who had concluded that it would not be in Indi's best interests to travel to Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome, where she had been offered treatment and Italian citizenship.
On Wednesday, Mr Justice Peel ruled Indi should not be "extubated" at home, and instead should remain in hospital or move to a hospice, during a private online hearing.
He concluded that "extubation and palliative care at the family home" would be "all but impossible" and "certainly contrary" to Indi's best interests.
Medical specialists said Indi should be extubated in hospital or a hospice, and the judge accepted their evidence.
"There are a number of factors which render extubation and palliative care at the family home all but impossible, and certainly contrary to [Indi's] best interests," the judge said.
"It is too dangerous to do so given the clinical complications."
He added: "I consider it essential that [Indi] should continue to have clinical treatment of the highest quality, carried out in a safe and sustainable setting. That will not be available at home."
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Mr Justice Peel has already ruled treatment can be legally withdrawn, after doctors argued it was causing Indi pain and deemed it futile.
Mr Gregory and Ms Staniforth have been unable to convince the Court of Appeal judges and judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, to overturn the treatment decision.
On Wednesday, Mr Justice Peel said Indi's father has "acknowledged, correctly and properly", that his "decisions and orders" were "unaffected" by the involvement in the case by the Italian government.