Children need to be taken away from abusive families

To the Editor:

Thank you for the information regarding how the World Health Organization ranks the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.

In regards to Charlie Gard, I do understand why the doctors took the case to court, but I also have sympathy for his parents; this has to be a very heart-wrenching ordeal. On one side, they know their baby is dying and, on the other side, they were hoping for a miracle — a cure to help save him.

There are many, many cases of miracle cures — look at St. Judes Childrens Hospital or Millie Duker Children's Hospital at Albany Medical. Both treat children — many with no hope; neither hospital has out-of-pocket fees.

The other issue I have with the Charlie Gard case, which maybe you can answer, why weren’t the parents allowed to take him from the hospital to the United States? If the doctors were sure he was dying why not let the parents try this, just so they would feel like they had done all they could to save their son?

I have issues when it comes to taking away the rights of loving parents like Charlie Gards but definitely know children need to be taken away from abusive parents or families much sooner than they are. An example is Kenny White of Knox, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo kindergartener who wasn’t taken away and he was killed. There has to be a sensible way of dealing with this issue, no matter what country!

Donna Fisher

Howes Cave

Editor’s note: Charlie Gard was born in London on Aug. 4, 2016 with Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome, which has no treatment, causing progressive muscle failure and brain damage. When he was three months old, he was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, diagnosed, and placed on mechanical ventilation. A New York neurologist, Michio Hirano, working an experimental treatment, was contacted and the London hospital and was going to use that treatment, paid for by the National Health Service. In January, after Gard had seizures that caused brain damage, the hospital’s doctors decided further treatment would be ineffective and would only prolong suffering. The parents still wanted to proceed with experimental treatment. At the judge’s request, Dr. Hiro visited Gard in the London hospital and concluded, looking at scans, that it was too late for the treatment to help, and his parents agreed to withdraw life support. A day later, on July 28, 2017, Charlie Gard died.

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