LONDON (AP) — A terminally ill baby at the center of a legal battle involving her parents, British health officials and the Italian government has passed away, a group supporting her family said.
Christian Concern said Indi Gregory died in a hospice on Monday morning after her life support was withdrawn on Sunday.
The 8-month-old baby had suffered brain damage as the result of a rare condition known as mitochondrial disease.
Her doctors said her life support should be removed to allow her to die at a hospital or hospice. Her parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, fought to continue life support in hopes that experimental treatments might prolong her life.
The Italian government had sought permission for her to be treated at Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome and even granted the baby Italian citizenship.
Doctors argued that Indi had no awareness of her surroundings and was suffering and should be allowed to die peacefully. Repeated legal attempts, backed by Christian Concern, were rejected by British judges.
In a statement early Monday, the baby's father bitterly criticized the courts for even refusing to let her die at home.
“Claire and I are angry, heartbroken and ashamed,” Gregory said. “They did succeed in taking Indi’s body and dignity, but they can never take her soul."
Fox News/UK reports that Indi's father, Dean Brown, who described himself as not religious, approved of their daughter being baptized with only hours left to live.
"A Christian volunteer visited the intensive care unit everyday and she told me baptism protects you and opens the door to heaven. I was also really struck by my lawyers from the Christian Legal Centre, Louis Browne KC, Bruno Quintavalle and Pavel Stroilov, the way they supported me and their dedication. It was like Indi’s baptism was also a way of recognizing their work.":
The father clarified that Indi's baptism was not merely an expression of gratitude to the Christian volunteers who had fought to save his child, saying that he would like to seek baptism for himself and his surviving daughter as well.
The case is the latest in a series of legal wrangles in the U.K. between parents and doctors over the treatment of terminally ill children. British judges have repeatedly sided with doctors in cases where the best interests of the child take precedence, even if parents object to a proposed course of treatment.
On Friday, Court of Appeal Justice Peter Jackson said doctors caring for Indi and other critically ill children had been put in an “extremely challenging” position by the legal tussle and decried what he described as “manipulative litigation tactics” designed to frustrate orders made by judges after careful consideration.
Italian Premier Giorgio Meloni paid her respects in a social media post, wishing the baby Godspeed.
“We did everything we could, everything possible,” Meloni wrote. “Unfortunately it wasn’t enough."