Charlie Gard

I agree with annsixty. Surely if the hospital made it possible for the family to have a picnic on the roof of the hospital, someone can make it possible for them to take the child home to die? Why is this happening now? Did no one tell the family know Charlie could never go home?

Of course I do annie but I never have owned their life. I would die for my children but I have no right to their life. I have simply had the privilege to bring them to adulthood. The child's needs must come first and last. However hard it is for me as a parent I must always allow the child's needs to take precedence.

I don't think your children are loaned to you at all. When you loan/borrow something you eventually give it back don't you ? My children are adults who think for themselves but they are still mine. There is most definitely a tie that binds. They might move to another town or country they might marry and have children of their own but my heart belongs to them and theirs to me.

It is so easy for us to criticise the parents and say what they should do and think .

Whitewave, you never say my child ? Do you refer to your child/children - the children loaned to me ?

If we can put a man on the moon , it cannot be beyond someone working out how to get this child home to die. His parents will never be at peace if they don't get their wish.
That said , I think the baby should have been allowed to slip away from his poor life many weeks ago.
While I have been on GN we have had many poignant threads and posts from members who have faced this very situation and they have done it with dignity and with the best interest of their children always foremost.
I think these parents have been taken over.

My heart goes out to all the parents of children born with life limiting illnesses who have let their little ones go with dignity and privacy.

Their pain won't have been any less.

What must they make of all this?

Many children's hospice have facilities to enable parents to be with their child for as long as they need to both before and after the child dies. They try to offer that precious time in a tranquil and caring environment to help parents who are going through the worst of times. I hope the parents will accept the offer, but I fear their relationship with GOSH is so broken that anything the hospital suggest will be challenged/refused. So sad for everyone involved.

They will pay costs but will claim it back from the NHS- that seems a bit odd. They have been offered a hospice. It is a pity they can't compromise as so many have to. You wonder if once you get involved with lawyers and litigation it is impossible to step away.

This is a very sad case but I do feel this is an unrealistic request and not in the child's best interests. According to the information on the BBC site he needs the ventilator, and there are difficulties housing it. He also needs constant specialist nursing and a specialist doctor on hand. They are few and far between for conditions like this. The parents may say they will pay all costs but other children are then denied the care of the specialists while they are with Charlie. Then when the inevitable happens the ventilator will need to be made fit for hospital service again and sterilised as it will have been out of a controlled setting. That again deprives other children. GOSH has said they can provide a suitable hospice and I think the parents should, albeit reluctantly, accept that. We had to make such a decision when my mother and sister both died in hospital rather than their home but we, as a family, are eternally grateful for the care and compassion they received and the kindness we were shown.

He is his own person, he "belongs" to no one. Your children are only "leant" to you until they are adult. If there is a chance that he will suffer at all in the move then it must not happen. The doctors have indicated that he will, so it must not happen.

If he is at home he is their child again , not the hospitals?

Bring the cot downstairs?

I am beginning to think "enough" - that baby is not being served in his best interests. What the baby needs is a peaceful end without pain or trauma, the doctors are best placed to achieve this.

I think from what I can understand they want to take him home and spend a little time with him before turning the ventilator off.

Sadly poor lamb won't know whether he at home or not

Well of course they would - but is it likely that Charlie could be put in his own cot at home? And for how long?

I am a bit puzzled here as I thought his ventilator etc. were to be switched off - so why does he need them at home? It sounds like prolonging the agony even further.

They have said they will pay all the costs,

Just listening to the radio 4 news and it would seem it's almost impossible. They are Back in court again this evening . Apparently they would need a specialist nurse to accompany him home.

Is the baby's best interests being served in this latest dispute?

I think the parents are being a bit unrealistic now, if they expect all Charlie's life-support system to go home with him.

How long has he got without it? If no time at all, then it can't be done - better just to cradle him in the hospital. Poor family...

When my dear mum came home from hospital (to die) last year. A window had to be removed and replaced to fit the equipment in. It was done and dusted in a day. Having said that my parents lived in a bungalow so much easier.

Just read a quick online news report and from what I can gather it's not just the door. Apparently the equipment will not fit up the stairs and his parents are desperate for him to be in his own cot. Terribly sad.

Some of the money that has been collected could surely be used to get a wider door urgently fitted? It wouldn't take more than a day if a contractor got stuck into it straight away. That would be money used for Charlie's benefit. Do you have do get planning permission to widen a door? Even if it were, provided it didn't break any regulations a sympathetic planning committee could pass it retrospectively if they didn't have any routine meetings in the near future.

Oh dear me how terrible Ana There really must be a way around this .

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40716292