- Title: Vatican hospital discusses terminally ill UK baby Charlie Gard
- Date: 25th July 2017
- Summary: ROME, ITALY (JULY 25, 2017) (REUTERS) ENRICO BERTINI, CHIEF OF MUSCLE AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES AT BAMBINO GESU HOSPITAL, AND MARIELLA ENOC, PRESIDENT OF BAMBINO GESU HOSPITAL, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHER BERTINI AND ENOC SEATED FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) CHIEF OF MUSCLE AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES AT BAMBINO GESU HOSPITAL, ENRICO BERTINI, SAYING: "We went there and in re-starting the diagnostic therapy we realised that the situation was very dramatic. This was a baby who had lost more than 90 percent of his muscle mass and as you can understand a recovery was very unlikely in this case." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF MUSCLE AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES AT BAMBINO GESU HOSPITAL, ENRICO BERTINI, SAYING: "I think, I would not speak about responsibility in this case. We are dealing with a rare disorder untreated so far. For the first time, so we are at the border of decisions, very experimental so this is an opportunity that you have to catch. If you catch the opportunity you probably can make a step forward in the disease. If you don't catch the opportunity it will come afterwards with another patient. So, this is only a matter of catching an opportunity and then starting a natural history of the disease. That takes a long time. The more rare the disease the more it will take to rebuild a natural history of the disease." JOURNALISTS SEATED / JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION BERTINI AND ENOC SEATED FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALIST LOOKING ON (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PRESIDENT OF BAMBINO GESU HOSPITAL, MARIELLA ENOC, SAYING: "This episode teaches us a great thing which is that you cannot get very far if a relationship is not formed between doctors, scientists and the family. The lack of this relationship allows for the creation of opposing positions and duels. The last thing Charlie needed was to go to court." PHOTOGRAPHER NEXT TO CRUCIFIX TAKING PHOTO (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PRESIDENT OF BAMBINO GESU HOSPITAL, MARIELLA ENOC, SAYING: "This alliance (relationship between doctors, scientists and family) is what I think in the future, thanks to Charlie Gard, can save so many other Charlies, Giovannis, Thomas, so many other children in the world. So, this was the spirit in which the Bambino Gesu acted and it did not work out although it's not really true it did not work out because, as always is the case with science, where we succeeded is in opening a new path, and that is really what we need to be doing and it is something we should never give up on doing. Nobody has the right to give up on even the smallest scientific discovery that provides some hope." MEDIA NEWS CONFERENCE ENDING
- Embargoed: 8th August 2017 18:54
- Keywords: Charlie Gard Vatican hospital Bambino Gesu news conference treatment Great Ormond Street hospital UK terminally ill baby
- Location: ROME, ITALY
- City: ROME, ITALY
- Country: Vatican City
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA0016R7VKG7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A Vatican-owned hospital which offered to treat terminally ill UK baby Charlie Gard held a news conference on Tuesday (July 25) at the same time as his case was being discussed in court in London, Illustrating the international interest taken in the tragic case.
Eleven-month-old Charlie has been the subject of a bitter dispute between his parents and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. The parents now want to bring their son home to die, having fought for extra treatment for months, but the hospital has said that was not possible for practical reasons.
Italy's government had supported the bid to transfer Charlie to the Bambino Gesu children's hospital in Rome for treatment, which Pope Francis said should be provided "until the end", according to his parents' wishes.
The president of the Bambino Gesu Hospital, Mariella Enoc, said the case offered a lesson about how important it was to invest in the formation of strong relationship between doctors, scientists and the families of patients. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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