Chris Gard and Connie Yates launch case at court of appeal after judge ruled Great Ormond Street hospital can withdraw life support for Charlie

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A couple whose baby son was at the centre of a court fight over life-support treatment for him have launched an appeal.

Chris Gard and Connie Yates wanted to be allowed to take their son, Charlie, to the US for a treatment trial but a high court judge ruled against them last month. The couple are challenging Mr Justice Francis’s decision in the court of appeal.

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Francis decided that doctors could stop providing life-support treatment for Charlie Gard on 11 April after analysing the case in a hearing at the family division of the high court in London.

Charlie’s parents, who are in their 30s and come from Hounslow, west London, had wanted a specialist in the US to provide therapy. Specialists at Great Ormond Street hospital, where the eight-month-old is being cared for, disagreed and said life-support treatment should stop.

Francis ruled in the hospital’s favour and concluded that Charlie, who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, should be moved to a palliative-care regime.

Great Ormond Street had said treatment would continue while the couple decided whether they would challenge the judge’s ruling at the appeal court.

Francis published his ruling on the case on Wednesday, to give members of the public the chance to analyse in detail the reasoning behind his decision.

The judge’s 11,809-word ruling, made last month, has been posted on the British and Irish Legal Information Institute website.