Paris - The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday said
British authorities should not end life support for Charlie Gard, a
10-month-old with a rare disease and brain damage, until at least
June 19 to allow his parents time to apply to it for a ruling.
Chris Gard and Connie Yates last week lost their fight in Britain's
Supreme Court to take their infant son, whose rare genetic condition
causes muscle weakness and brain damage, to a therapy trial in the
US.
The Supreme Court had upheld lower court judgments saying that the
infant's life support should be ended so that he could die with
dignity.
Specialists at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where
the baby is being treated, had said the therapy proposed by a US
doctor was experimental and would not help, and that life support for
the child should be stopped.
The Strasbourg-based court on Friday issued initial instructions to
the British authorities not to end the child's life support on the
basis of a request from his parents.
The Gards have not yet made a substantive application to the court
for a ruling on the merits of the case, the court clarified.
Tuesday's interim ruling applies until midnight on June 19. If at
that point the Gards have applied to the court for a ruling on the
merits of the case, it will remain in force until that ruling is
issued.