In regards to the claims of circus, I don't see any clowns here. It's an on-going story in the media because there is public interest. That is why this thread is here.

I wouldn't describe this story as a circus. Another post said the parents are selfish. Their is nothing selfish about trying to save you child. There's no blame to be attributed.

My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie and his family.

"You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead"

Stan Laurel

This is the point, you can't know that.

I would be shouting outside the courts if a doctor had used the court to deny my child a right to further treatment. When there are those out they saying that they can help.

What are we actually talking about here? Allowing parents to take their child to another hospital, where the doctors have a more positive outlook.

Sorry to say it but your a long time dead, so a few more months of treatment, even if it is a slim chance, is a chance worth taking. If the treatment does not work, then the parents can say, we tried our very best.

I bring up again the case of Ashya King. They took the parents to court and they were jailed in Spain. Imagine if they had forced through the extradition and brought the child home, so they could stop his treatment.

When Ashya started to repond to his treatment, what did they say? Well done, that is great news? No, they made a statement still trying to justify their stance. They said, it wouldn't last and there's still a chance of a relapse

Think if those parents had not been so strong and fought for their child..

How many other parents have been told there is no hope.

If nothing else there is always hope and while there is still some hope the parents should have the right to try and if some are offended by the fact that they are on t.v. in their efforts to give a chance to Charlie, so be it.

"You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead"

Stan Laurel

You say that like it's a crime. How about for the benefit of the child and the parents.

There are unfortunatly many children alive who have an exremely challenging life. They still have worth.

"You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead"

Stan Laurel

Ashya king wasn't being kept alive by a ventilator with severe irreversible brain damage that for me is the key difference.

When I was a young girl my Mother said to me.. You listen here kid you're CPFC

That's a very good point and I understand that.

My point is more that they don't always get it right. Most of the time I'm sure they do but they didn't give Ashya a chance. To the point that they actually tried to stop his treatment. It's like we're right and you can't even try, because we're right.

They may be right in this case, we can't know. The problem I have is that there is a slim option for another way at another hospital but the parents are being denied the right to try.

"You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead"

Stan Laurel

I agree.

My wife is a Doctor at GOSH and she tells me that she and the rest of the staff are finding this very upsetting. They are getting death threats on social media. GOSH is limited in what it can do in terms of making public statements as it has a legal responsibility to act in a certain way (purely in the interests of the child). They also care for hundreds of sick children every day and hundreds die every year in the hospital as it's a national centre for rare and complex conditions for children. They can only give Charlie Gard the same level of care and treatment they give all their children.

I think the media reaction to this has been over the top and has lead to undue pressure on the hospital and its staff who do an excellent job.

The experimental treatment has a very small chance of even limited success and would do very little to provide any really quality adjusted life years for this child. The Americans are using it as a political tool to demonstrate why state provision of health care is a bad thing.