After a fierce legal battle, ventilation for a sick baby has been stopped: “They have deprived Indi of the chance to live longer”

Indi Gregory, a terminally ill eight-month-old baby, has been taken off life support after judges ruled she could die. The girl, who suffered from an incurable mitochondrial disease, was the subject of a fierce legal battle.

Indi had an energy metabolism disease and was treated for a long time in a hospital in Nottingham, UK, but British doctors recently considered her treatment to be complete. Further treatment would be pointless and could only hurt the girl, the specialists said. An explanation that her parents did not want to hear about. They went to court, but there too they were quickly frustrated.

As a last resort, they sought refuge abroad. Some doctors at the Bambino Gesu children’s hospital in Rome had agreed to care for Indi. To make the procedure easier, the Italian government even granted the girl Italian nationality. But a judge denied their request to move further care to Rome. It was judged that a move to Italy was not in India’s interests and that the intervention by Italian consular officials was “completely misplaced”.

Died last night

The final judgment of three appeal judges followed on Friday. The life-saving treatment had to be stopped at the hospital. A request from the parents to do this at their home was also rejected.

An action group that supported the parents announced on Sunday that ventilation had been stopped. Andrea Williams, director of Christian Concern’s sister organization, the Christian Legal Centre, said the parents were “by their precious daughter’s side” on Sunday. Her father confirmed this morning that she has passed away. He said he was “angry, heartbroken and ashamed.” “The health care system and the courts not only took away Indi’s chance at a longer life, they also took away her dignity to die in the family home where she belonged.”