Indi Gregory: Critically ill baby dies after life-support turned off
Indi Gregory, the critically ill baby at the centre of a legal battle, has died after her life-support was turned off.
Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, had launched a battle for specialists to keep treating their eight-month-old daughter, who had mitochondrial disease.
But specialists at the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham said they could do no more for the critically baby, and a court ruled that limiting treatment would be in her best interests.
Mr Gregory told the BBC on Monday that his daughter died at 1.45am after she was taken to a hospice. He said her mum, Ms Staniforth, “held her for her final breaths".
The couple, who were supported by campaign organisation Christian Concern, had lost fights in the High Court and Court of Appeal in London over Indi’s treatment.
High Court judge Mr Justice Peel had ruled limiting treatment would be lawful, and doing so would be in Indi’s best interests.
Her parents failed to persuade Court of Appeal judges and judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, to overturn that treatment decision.
The couple also failed in a bid to transfer Indi to a hospital in Rome.
Mr Justice Peel ruled a move to Italy would not be in Indi’s best interests and Court of Appeal judges backed that decision.
Judges heard Indi, who was born on February 24, had mitochondrial disease – a genetic condition that saps energy.
Specialists said she was dying and the treatment she was receiving caused pain and was futile, a decision her parents had disagreed with.
Mr Justice Peel considered evidence at private hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
He allowed journalists to attend and said Indi can be identified in reports.
However, specialists involved in Indi’s care could not be named, nor could the hospice where she was moved to.