Hospital Gets Death Threats Over Charlie Gard

Legal proceedings continue tomorrow in London over experimental procedure
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 23, 2017 12:25 PM CDT
Hospital Gets Death Threats Over Charlie Gard
The Rev. Patrick Mahoney from Washington DC, foreground left, speaks to the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as he joins other Charlie Gard supporters on Sunday.   (Jonathan Brady)

Protesters who want critically ill British baby Charlie Gard to receive an experimental medical treatment rallied Sunday in London, while hospital officials say emotions are running so high in the case they have received death threats, the AP reports. A small group of about 20 activists supporting Gard's parents, including some from the United States, gathered Sunday afternoon outside the High Court in London where legal proceedings will resume Monday. Charlie has a rare genetic condition and suffers from brain damage. His parents are fighting to get him more medical care but Great Ormond Street Hospital officials say the experimental treatment won't work and will just cause the 11-month-old more suffering. They argue that his life support should be turned off and he should receive palliative care.

Hospital chairwoman Mary MacLeod said the London police have been contacted because of numerous threats received by the hospital's employees. "Staff have received abuse both in the street and online," she said. "Many of these messages are menacing, including death threats." Charlie's parents have lost all previous court cases, including one before the European Court of Human Rights, to force the hospital to let them bring their son to the United States for an experimental treatment. The loss in the European court, following an earlier defeat in Britain's Supreme Court, seemed final. But both Pope Francis and President Trump expressed an interest in Charlie's fate, and the hospital asked for a new court hearing because of what the family claimed was new medical evidence. (More Charlie Gard stories.)

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