Indi Gregory’s parents launch appeal after judge says critically-ill eight-month-old cannot receive end-of-life care at home

• Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth would want treatment withdrawn at home
• Italy has made a request to the High Court to allow Indi to be treated there

The parents of critically ill baby Indi Gregory, who has been at the centre of a heartbreaking life-support battle, have mounted a desperate appeal after failing to persuade a judge to let her receive end-of-life care at home.

Specialists caring for the little girl at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham say treatment should be withdrawn in a hospice or hospital, and doctors had planned to switch off equipment keeping her alive at 2pm today.

Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth have said they would want specialists to withdraw treatment from eight-month-old Indi at their home in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. 

A High Court judge on Wednesday ruled against Indi’s parents and concluded that withdrawing treatment at home would be ‘too dangerous’.

It comes as Italy has made an urgent request to the High Court to have baby Indi Gregory handed over to them so she can be treated in Rome.

Little Indi Gregory has mitochondrial disease, a condition that saps energy

Indi pictured at her christening alongside her parents Claire Staniforth and Dean Gregory

There were hopes that she would be transferred to the Bambino Gesù Hospital, which has agreed to treat her illness, after the Italian government intervened and granted her citizenship. 

Italian consul in Manchester, Matteo Corradini, requested in his capacity as guardian for Indi that she be allowed to travel for treatment.

The request was made to the High Court in London to Mr Justice Robert Peel who has heard previous reviews and each time ordered it is in her ‘best interests’ to be allowed to die.

It was made under Article 9 of the 1996 Hague Convention which allows a country to request another to help if they consider ‘they are best placed to assess the child’s best interests’. 

Campaign organisation Christian Concern, which is supporting Indi’s parents, said on Thursday that the couple had made an application to the Court of Appeal relating to Indi’s end-of-life care. 

Court officials said an appeal judge was considering their challenge.

Mr Justice Peel had considered arguments relating to Indi’s end-of-life care at a private online hearing in the Family Division of the High Court.

A hospital in Rome has agreed to accept the eight-month-old girl to continue treatment

The judge, who is based in London, said he accepted the evidence of specialists.

Indi’s parents want specialists to keep providing life-support treatment.

But Mr Justice Peel has already ruled that specialists can lawfully limit treatment.

He has concluded that such a move would be in Indi’s best interests.

Indi’s parents have failed to persuade Court of Appeal judges and judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, to overturn that treatment decision.

Mr Justice Peel ruled that a move to Italy would not be in Indi’s best interests and Court of Appeal judges backed that decision.

Mr Justice Peel said, in his ruling on Wednesday, that Indi’s father has ‘acknowledged, correctly and properly’, that his ‘decisions and orders’ were ‘unaffected’ by Italy’s decision to grant the little girl citizenship.

Indi, who was born on February 24, has mitochondrial disease – a genetic condition that saps energy.

Indi Gregory’s parents have lost legal fights in London to continue treatment for their baby

Specialists say she is dying and bosses at the hospital asked for a ruling that doctors could lawfully limit treatment.

Medics say the treatment Indi receives causes pain and is futile. Her parents disagree, and have been desperately trying to get her transferred to Italy for treatment.

Mr Dean Gregory, Indi’s father, said yesterday: ‘Mine and Claire’s heart’s goes out to the Italian president and the Italian government, and the Italian people. 

‘We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we see you as Indi’s guardian angels. The compassion and love you have shown to try and help our daughter get the care she needs and the devotion you have for Indi makes us so happy.

‘But there is still an urgency to appeal to the British government to allow Indi to come to Italy before it is too late. 

‘As a father I have never asked or begged for anything in my life, but I am now begging the British government to please help prevent our daughter’s life from being taken away.’

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