So Gregory, the English judge, doesn’t save her: today the plug will be pulled out

The High Court of London said stop: today, after 3pm, the plugs on the machines that keep Indi Gregory alive can be switched off. However, a last resort has been announced by the family of the 8-month-old girl, who suffers from mitochondrial disease and is hospitalized at Queen’s Medical Center in Nottingham. The transfer of the girl to the Bambino Gesù hospital in Rome, which has been offering to treat the girl for days, is therefore ruled out, at least for now. But the family announces yet another extreme legal battle because “the judge has ruled that Indi Gregory’s life support should be removed at the Queen’s Medical Center in Nottingham or a hospice and not at home, against her parents’ wishes.” According to the Superior Court, in fact, extubation and palliative care at the family home would be “practically impossible and contrary to Indi’s best interests”.

And “suspending treatment at Indi’s house would be too dangerous. I consider it essential that Indi continues to receive the highest quality clinical care provided in a safe and sustainable environment. These are not available at home”, concluded the judge. However, the association Christian Legal Center is keen to point out that the sentence was pronounced “despite the Italian government having granted citizenship to Indi and having issued emergency measures authorizing her transfer to the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital, in Rome, to specialized care.” The Gregory family’s legal team continues to win on this front as well. According to lawyer and former senator Simone Pillon, «there are still some paths to follow because a real conflict of jurisdiction is emerging between the two judicial authorities: that of residence and that linked to the child due to their Italian citizenship. We – explains Pillon – are working both to ensure that in the meantime there is contact between the two hospitals, to initiate transfer procedures in an amicable manner, and to resolve the issue without leading to a conflict of jurisdiction”.

Especially because, at the request of the Gregory family’s lawyers, «the Italian consul in Manchester, in his capacity as guardian judge, issued an urgent measure, declaring the competence of the Italian judge and authorizing the adoption of the therapeutic plan proposed by the Menino Jesus hospital and the transfer of the minor to Rome. He also appointed a special curator to look after the proceedings. The decree was communicated by the curator to the director general of the British hospital, in order to encourage the desirable collaboration between the health authorities of the two countries and avoid a conflict of jurisdiction”. Pro Vita & Famiglia onlus asks “to intensify all efforts to take our fellow citizen Indi Gregory to Italy, to her home – says the spokesperson, Jacopo Coghe – We are appalled by the cynicism and inhumanity of English judges who refuse the possibilities of treatment offered in Indi by Bambin Gesù, pediatric excellence on a global level. Faced with two different scientific opinions about the best interests of the child, the English judiciary is ideologically obstinately preferring the one that causes the child’s death by asphyxiation to possible alternative palliative paths.”