Judge rules Indi’s ‘best interests’ are to die – family to appeal

A High Court judge, Mr Justice Robert Peel, has ruled that it is in the ‘best interests’ of seven-month-old baby, Indi Gregory, to have her life-support removed.

Indi’s parents, Claire Staniforth and Dean Gregory from Derbyshire, intend to appeal the ruling and are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre and represented in court by barrister, Bruno Quintavalle.

The seven-month-old girl is battling a rare mitochondrial disease and Indi’s parents maintain that despite her disability, she is a happy baby who responds to their touch.

Indi is being treated in paediatric intensive care at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where her parents and elder sisters keep vigil.

Earlier this month, her mother Claire Staniforth and Dean Gregory, who are engaged, were devastated to be informed with only 48 hours’ notice that there would be a legal hearing to determine their baby daughter’s fate.

This week, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust told a judge at a behind-closed-doors hearing at the High Court in London, that it is in Indi’s ‘best interests’ not to be given treatment to ‘sustain her life’ in the event that her condition deteriorates.

‘We are devastated’

Following the ruling, Dean Gregory, the father of Indi, said:

“We are devastated by the judge’s ruling and will be appealing. The doctors painted a terribly bleak and negative picture of Indi’s condition during court proceedings.

“It feels like the Trust has been given the permission they were after to legally proceed with a death sentence for Indi. Is this in the best interests of Indi or the Trust?

“That picture was so misleading that, after hearing their evidence in court, the media reported that Indi had to be resuscitated nine times in one day. This is completely untrue.

“During her short life Indi has proved everybody wrong and deserves more time and care from the NHS rather than seeking to end her life as soon as possible.

“It is criminal that parents who are trying to do everything for their child in such difficult circumstances are taken to court and have to contend with the weight of the whole system coming against them. 

“Indi can definitely experience happiness. She cries like a normal baby. We know she is disabled, but you don’t just let disabled people die. We just want to give her a chance.

“I and we as a family are prepared to do whatever it takes to fight for the life of our beautiful daughter, Indi.”

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “Life is precious and to be protected in law. We must give people every chance to live rather than end their lives prematurely by saying it’s in their best interests to die.”