http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/24/us-doctor ... z4npHdZC5P
Great Ormond Street Hospital has criticised the doctor who claimed to have new evidence over Charlie Gard, saying he had a ‘financial interest’ in the drugs he suggested.
A new legal case was brought after American doctor Michio Hirano said he had new information and that experimental drugs could give the baby a chance of survival.
But today his parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard ended their legal fight after it became clear the new evidence was not what they had hoped.
In a statement this afternoon, Great Ormond Street said they were disappointed when Dr Hirano admitted he had not visited Charlie or read his up-to-date medical information before giving evidence in court.
‘Throughout, his parents’ hopes have been sustained by advice received from overseas,’ the hospital said.
But it is their view that ‘Charlie’s has been an existence devoid of all benefit and pleasure’ since the first court case earlier this year. ‘If Charlie has had a relationship with the world around him since his best interests were determined, it has been one of suffering.’
The European Court of Human Rights had upheld the decision to switch off Charlie’s life support after his parents appealed.
But the decision was revisited following interventions from US President Donald Trump, the Pope and mitochondrial expert Dr Hirano.
Hospital representatives said they hoped ‘those who, like the Professor, have provided the opinions that have so sustained Charlie’s parents, their hopes and thus this protracted litigation with its many consequences, will also find much upon which to reflect.’
In a lengthy statement explaining their position, GOSH said they were ‘optimistic’ when they first heard the doctor speak of new information, but this turned to ‘surprise and disappointment’ when he took the witness box on July 13, before he had even seen Charlie in person.
‘He stated that not only had he not visited the hospital to examine Charlie but in addition, he had not read Charlie’s contemporaneous medical records or viewed Charlie’s brain imaging or read all of the second opinions about Charlie’s condition (obtained from experts all of whom had taken the opportunity to examine him and consider his records) or even read the Judge’s decision made on 11 April.
‘Further, GOSH was concerned to hear the Professor state, for the first time, whilst in the witness box, that he retains a financial interest in some of the NBT (Nucleoside Bypass Therapy) compounds he proposed prescribing for Charlie.
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GOSH is a tertiary referral centre and a centre of research excellence. It celebrates and enthuses about gene therapy and experimental treatment of all types. But it also believes in its patients as people. The hospital strives to work with children and parents to strike a balance of treatment benefits and burdens that combines evidence and compassion.
Where that balance falls ethically in favour of pioneering treatment, GOSH shares each family’s excitement at the journey that follows. GOSH believes that novel therapies are best provided in the context of formal clinical trials. The hospital does not treat its most vulnerable children simply because it can and on no account does it treat them purely because novel treatment furthers GOSH’s research.
