Indi Gregory: Parents of ill baby await ruling over treatment

Indi Gregory illness causes her causes pain and is futile, medics say

The parents of a critically ill baby are waiting for a High Court decision over whether to allow her to receive treatment at a hospital in Italy.

Indi Gregory has mitochondrial disease and medics have been told they can withdraw life support for her.

Lawyers representing her parents asked Mr Justice Peel to allow Indi to be transferred to Rome.

Bosses at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre, where Indi receives care, said the application should be dismissed.

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The Christian Legal Centre, which has been representing parents Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, said the Italian hospital had agreed to treat their eight-month-old.

The parents, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, have failed to persuade Court of Appeal judges in London and judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France to overturn the decision to lawfully limit treatment.

Indi's parents, Claire Staniforth and Dean Gregory, had previously said they had "given up" their legal battle

Mitochondrial disease prevents cells in the body producing energy and the NHS says there is no cure for her condition.

Mr Justice Peel considered evidence at a private hearing in the Family Division of London's High Court on Tuesday and said he aimed to deliver a ruling soon.

The judge was told that the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome had agreed to accept the little girl.

Lawyers representing Indi's parents said there had been a "material" change of circumstances since he ruled that doctors could limit treatment, and Indi had a chance of a "longer life".

Louis Browne KC, who led Indi's parent's legal team, told Mr Justice Peel - in a written case outline on Tuesday - that the Nottingham hospital's governing trust was refusing to co-operate with a transfer.

'No tangible plan'

"The concerns arise because the court has made no order obliging Indi to be treated by the trust or restricting her right to move," he said.

"The court is respectfully asked to make the order sought so that Indi can move her medical care to a new hospital, who, whilst putting her best interests first, is prepared to treat her."

Medics have said Indi is dying and her treatment is futile and causes pain.

In a written argument, barrister Scott Matthewson, who represented the Queen's Medical Centre's governing trust, said: "Indi's family understandably want to do all that they possibly can to achieve what they believe to be in her best interests.

"However, there is no tangible plan before the court to enable it to make any sensible decision as to how transfer to Italy could be managed safely or why palliative treatment in a different location is in Indi's best interests."