An Italian hospital has offered to treat a critically ill eight-month-old baby whose parents lost a legal battle for her to stay on life-support in the UK, campaigners have said.
Indi Gregory, who was born in February, has mitochondrial disease, a genetic condition that saps energy.
Specialists say she is dying and a High Court judge recently ruled that doctors could lawfully limit the treatment they give her.
Indi’s parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, failed to persuade appeal judges to overturn that decision.
They also tried to get the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg to intervene, but their case was rejected.
Indi’s father, Dean Gregory, at the Royal Courts of Justice
A ‘dramatic development’
The parents, who are both in their 30s and from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, have said they expect doctors at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham to start withdrawing treatment soon.
Medics argue the treatment Indi receives causes pain and is futile.
But on Monday, campaign group the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the couple, said a hospital in Rome had agreed to accept her.
The centre described the breakthrough as a “dramatic development”.
A spokesman for the centre said: “A leading paediatric hospital in Italy has offered specialist treatment.”
The statement added: “Fully-funded by the Italian government, the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome has agreed to accept Indi for treatment.”
Indi’s