The staff of the hospital in London, where terminally ill baby Charlie Gard is being treated for a rare genetic condition, have been harassed and even received death threats.
“Thousands of abusive messages have been sent to doctors and nurses whose life’s work is to care for sick children,” said Mary MacLeod, Chairman of Great Ormond Street hospital, in a statement Saturday.
“Many of these messages are menacing, including death threats.”
Guests at the hospital have also been harassed and discomforted while visiting their children, MacLeod said.
A British court is expected to decide next week whether baby Charlie can be taken to the US for treatment after other British and European courts said the infant’s life support should be ended so that he can die with dignity.
Columbia University neurology professor Michio Hirano visited Charlie in London on Monday and Tuesday to examine him and meet with doctors from the hospital.
Hirano says that Charlie’s condition could be significantly improved by nucleoside bypass therapy but specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital said the therapy, which is being requested by the boy’s parents, was experimental and would not help.
Charlie suffers from a rare genetic condition called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome that causes progressive muscle weakness and has left him with brain damage and unable to breathe without a ventilator.(dpa/NAN)
