Time has caught up with Charlie Gard, the British baby who has been suffering from a severe genetic disorder. Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, with no doubt great reluctance, have decided to drop their legal fight to grant they son a last ditched effort to treat his condition. And so, using the cold blooded euphemism employed by the British National Health Service, Charlie will be “allowed to die.”
Why have Charlie’s parents changed their minds?
It seems that the latest brain scans and examination have indicated that Charlie’s condition has deteriorated past the point where even the experimental treatment being offered by an American doctor would have any benefit.
Charlie’s parents contend that this would not be the case had they been allowed to try the treatment from the very start without the lengthy court battle mounted by Great Ormond Street Hospital. So, in due course, doctors will remove Charlie’s ventilator, and he will breathe his last, just short of his first birthday.
There were no winners in this affair
In a genuine sense, no one won in this controversy that went worldwide and attracted the attention of both President Donald Trump and Pope Francis. Indeed Charlie has lost as have his grieving parents. No one will ever know whether the experimental treatment could have saved the baby’s life. The NHS bureaucracy’s position that nothing could save Charlie has become self-fulfilling.
However, Great Ormond Street Hospital and its Doctors And Nurses have not won either. To be sure, the British National Health Service has established, through the might and majesty of the British court system, that under single payer, government-run health system your life does not belong to you. It belongs to the state, to preserve or dispose of at its pleasure.
The cost of ramming home this principal has come at a high price. Doctors and nurses at Great Ormond, whether they were directly involved in Charlie’s case or not, have received numerous death threats. The reputation of a hospital that once was highly regarded as a place where children could be made well has suffered irreparable harm.
The hospital will always be associated with the case of Charlie Gard, his tragedy, and that institution’s shame.
Many on social media are already expressing the sentiment that Charlie’s death is a warning about the wages of government health care. Sarah Palin was laughed at when she warned about death panels. However, more than one person on Twitter and in the comments sections of news stories are pointing out that here they are.
What will Charlie’s parents do now?
Besides mourning the loss of their son, Charlie’s parents intend to use the 1.3 million British pounds to establish a foundation so that Charlie’s voice “continues to be heard.” For the moment, though, they have expressed the wish to grieve in private.
