Charlie Gard has 'no quality of life' say Great Ormond Street doctors
GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL medical staff treating Charlie Gard say the terminally ill baby has "no quality of life" and "no real prospect of any quality of life".
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Specialists say that despite advances in medical science, there are still some conditions that "we cannot cure and we cannot ameliorate".
Bosses have spelled out doctors' thinking in a statement posted on the hospital website.
An American specialist who has offered to treat Charlie is preparing to examine the 11-month-old boy for the first time.
He has no quality of life and no real prospect of any quality of life
Michio Hirano is scheduled to visit Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London, where Charlie is being cared for, on Monday and Tuesday
Dr Hirano is due discuss Charlie's condition with doctors treating the little boy and with independent specialists.
The visit has been organised as part of the latest stage of a court fight over whether Charlie should be given experimental treatment in America.
Judges have heard that that Charlie, who was born on August 4 2016, has a form of mitochondrial disease, a condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.
Dr Hirano has offered an experimental therapy called nucleoside.
"At the heart of Charlie's parlous and terrible condition is the question, how can it be in his best interests for his life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn?" says the Great Ormond Street statement.
"Charlie has been treated on GOSH's neonatal intensive care unit for many months now and very sadly, the question that arises for him arises for other patients and families at the hospital too.
"GOSH has treated over a thousand patients with mitochondrial disease and offers pioneering treatment, including nucleoside treatment, where appropriate.
"Despite all the advances in medical science made by GOSH and the other hospitals around the world, there remain some conditions that we cannot cure and we cannot ameliorate."
The statement adds: "It has been and remains the unanimous view of all of those caring for Charlie at Great Ormond Street that withdrawal of ventilation and palliative care are all that the hospital can offer him consistent with his welfare.
"That is because in the view of his treating team and all those from whom GOSH obtained second opinions, he has no quality of life and no real prospect of any quality of life."