UK court orders baby Indi Gregory off life support, blasts Italian intervention as 'misguided'
Indi Gregory's father described ruling as 'latest kick in the teeth'
Judges in the United Kingdom ordered an 8-month-old baby girl off life support Friday and condemned the Italian government's intervention in her case as "misguided."
Lord Justice Peter Jackson, Lady Justice Eleanor King and Lord Justice Andrew Moylan shot down an appeal from the parents of Indi Gregory, an infant who suffers from a rare mitochondrial disease and has been in pediatric intensive care at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham since she was born, according to the London-based Christian Legal Centre (CLC).
Indi's parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, had requested the court to allow them to remove Indi's life support at home, which the court denied, though their lawyers at the CLC noted the date and location of her extubation has not yet been specified.
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The ruling comes despite the Italian government granting Indi citizenship and issuing emergency measures this week so that she can obtain specialist treatment at the Vatican-run Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome at no cost to the NHS or U.K. taxpayers.
Dr. Matteo Corradini, who serves as the Italian consul in Manchester, urged British authorities to grant him jurisdiction over Indi's case under Article 9 of the 1996 Hague Convention given her new citizenship, an unprecedented diplomatic move that the high court described as "wholly misconceived" and "not in the spirit of the convention," according to the CLC.
“Claire and I are again disgusted by another one-sided decision from the judges and the Trust," Indi's father Dean said in a statement. "The whole world is watching and is shocked at how we have been treated."
“Claire and I have always wanted what is in Indi’s best interests," Gregory continued. "She has human rights and we wanted her to have the best treatment possible. If the U.K. did not want to fund it, why can she not go to Italy and receive the treatment and care which the amazing Italian prime minister and government has offered?"
"This feels like the latest kick in the teeth, and we will not give up fighting for our daughter’s chance to live until the end," he added.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni weighed in on Indi's situation earlier this week, writing Monday on social media: "They say there isn't much hope for little Indi, but until the very end, I'll do what I can to defend her life. And to defend the right of her mamma and papa to do all that they can for her."
Meloni has since made an urgent appeal to the U.K. Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk, calling for the two countries to work together on transferring Indi to Rome for further treatment, the CLC said.
Simone Pillon, a former Italian senator who helped set up the girl's potential treatment at the Bambino Gesù, said Italians "are appalled by the rulings by U.K. courts in this case and the refusal of the NHS Trust to help the family transfer Indi to Rome."
"It seems that they want to disconnect everything tomorrow by taking the little girl to the hospice," Pillon wrote on X in the wake of Friday's ruling. "I have no words. If that were the case, there would be no time left for anything."
#IndyGregory Sembra che vogliano staccare tutto già domani portando la bambina all'Hospice. Io non ho parole. Se così fosse non ci sarebbe più tempo per nulla...
— Simone Pillon (@SimoPillon) November 10, 2023
The latest decision from the U.K. judges echoes an earlier one from Justice Robert Peel of the High Court, who ruled that it would be in the baby's best interests to be removed from life support at hospital or hospice against the wishes of her parents.
Indi's situation resembles the cases of British toddlers Alfie Evans and Charlie Gard, who were similarly denied the chance to receive treatment at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital by U.K. courts.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to [email protected]
