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The fate of terminally ill baby Charlie Gard is expected to be decided later today in a court ruling that will be heard the world over.
Following weeks of high emotion, a judge is to rule this afternoon on whether tiny Charlie will be allowed to receive experimental treatment in the US for a terminal condition.
His parents made a moving plea yesterday for the treatment to be given the go-ahead.
The child has been offered support from around the world, including offers of treatment from the Pope, and Donald Trump.
It comes as an American specialist was due to examine the terminally-ill baby for the first time over the next two days.
Michio Hirano, a professor of neurology at the Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, is scheduled to visit Charlie at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and discuss the case with doctors treating Charlie plus other medical experts.
The visit has been organised as part of the latest stage in the court fight.
Chris Gard and Connie Yates want a judge to rule that their 11-month-old son, who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, should be allowed to undergo a therapy trial overseen by Dr Hirano in New York.
Specialists at Great Ormond Street, where Charlie is being cared for, say the therapy is experimental and will not help.
They say life support treatment should stop.
Charlie’s parents, who are in their 30s and come from Bedfont, west London, have already lost battles in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in London.
They have also failed to persuade European Court of Human Rights judges to intervene.
But the couple say there is new evidence and want Mr Justice Francis to carry out a fresh analysis of their case.
In April, the judge ruled in favour of Great Ormond Street and said Charlie should be allowed to die with dignity.
Mr Justice Francis has considered the couple’s latest claims at preliminary hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London over the last few days.
He is due to stage further hearings later this month following Dr Hirano’s visit.
A statement on Great Ormond Street Hospital website, which spells out the doctors’ thinking, reads: “At the heart of Charlie’s parlous and terrible condition is the question, how can it be in his best interests for his life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn?” says the Great Ormond Street statement.
“Charlie has been treated on GOSH’s neonatal intensive care unit for many months now and very sadly, the question that arises for him arises for other patients and families at the hospital too.
“GOSH has treated over a thousand patients with mitochondrial disease and offers pioneering treatment, including nucleoside treatment, where appropriate.
“Despite all the advances in medical science made by GOSH and the other hospitals around the world, there remain some conditions that we cannot cure and we cannot ameliorate.”
The statement adds: “It has been and remains the unanimous view of all of those caring for Charlie at Great Ormond Street that withdrawal of ventilation and palliative care are all that the hospital can offer him consistent with his welfare.
“That is because in the view of his treating team and all those from whom GOSH obtained second opinions, he has no quality of life and no real prospect of any quality of life.”
Mr Justice Francis has considered the couple’s latest claims at preliminary hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London over the last few days.
He is due to stage further hearings later this month following Dr Hirano’s visit.
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