Many people have been weighing in about the story of Charlie Gard, a 10 month old infant the UK courts ruled to take off life support, despite the parent’s wishes. The parents fought the doctors decision, but essentially the courts upheld it after they deemed it was more humane. Charlie suffers from Mitochondrial DNA depletion system, which weakens the muscles and internal organs, leading to a short an painful life for those affected. While I agree that ending Charlie’s life is probably the most humane thing to do, I do not believe this is the court’s decision to make.

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In times of grieving we can act irrationally and sometimes prolong the inevitable for no reason, but as parents, children, or relatives of the loved ones affected, we have the right to do so. The doctors see Charlie as a patient and are doing what is best for the patient in their minds. I don’t think anyone here is trying to maliciously end the life of a child, but the choice must be left with the parents of Charlie. Denying their wishes for a dying child and taking them to court to get an order to remove the life support is disgusting in my opinion. They pay their taxes and will pay part of the bill for keeping Charlie on life support so this shouldn’t even be an issue. 

I understand they want to end Charlie’s life out for humane reasons, but in reality he isn’t even conscious, so this shouldn’t be a problem either. If the parents want to keep Charlie alive until the last possible second, out of hope , they should be allowed to do so as a basic right. We don’t take patients who receive news that they have a 99% chance to die of cancer in the next month and say “hey let’s just end it now since we know you are going to die”. They have every right to try their odds until the end and no government or court system should be able to step in and say otherwise. I could understand if they want to end their lives and giving them the okay to do so , but the second you pull the plug the chance of death becomes 100%.

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Again, for me this isn’t an issue of what is the most humane way of treating the situation. I do honestly believe that if we are talking strictly about quality of life, Charlie is probably better off being taken off life support, but this is NOT the court’s decision to do so. This to me is an issue of human and patient rights to choose what happens to your love one and not allowing someone to over ride your choice. As the parent you should have the ultimate say in choosing if or when to pull the plug, no one else. It isn’t like they can fight the court with appeals either, come Friday, Charlie will be gone. Unless the courts change their mind because of public outcry, there is no other outcome as of now.

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Thanks to @Elyaque for the badges