Charlie Gard's parents agree to let baby die in hospice

Charlie Gard's parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, has agreed to a court decision to let their 11-month old son to be transferred to a hospice where he will spend his final hours.

According to The Guardian, Yates and Gard had initially wanted to take their son home to spend his final hours as their "last wish," but they ran into opposition from Great Ormond Street hospital, where Charlie is being kept on life support.

The hospital argued that it would not be possible to take Charlie home because of the difficulties of providing invasive ventilation.

Justice Francis, who is presiding over the case, has stated that it would be in Charlie's best interest to be moved to a hospice to spend his last hours unless alternative arrangements could be made.

Yates and Gard had given up the court battle to persuade the judge to let Charlie travel to America for an experimental treatment earlier this week. It had been determined that the treatment was no longer viable because of the muscular atrophy he had suffered while the case was being argued in the courts.

The couple said that the decision, which came after a difficult five-month legal battle, was the "hardest thing we've ever had to do."

Francis gave the parents until Thursday to find a team that would take care of Charlie at the hospice.

"Unless by 12pm tomorrow the parents and guardian and Great Ormond Street hospital can agree alternative arrangements, Charlie will be transferred to a hospice and extubated shortly thereafter," the judge said. "It seems to me the time has come when a decision has to be taken to a very, very sad conclusion," he added.

The family later posted a Facebook message appealing for a pediatric intensive care consultant to come forward before 12 p.m. on Thursday. "Please only email if you can help us! We need some peaceful time with our baby boy," the message read.

Yates' lawyer, Grant Armstrong, had announced earlier that a doctor who has "experience as a surgeon" in intensive care and ran a team with a pediatric doctor had offered to oversee the baby's life support at the hospice. But it later emerged that he was a General Practitioner with "no experience of intensive care," according to the guardian's lawyer, Victoria Butler-Cole.

Armstrong also stated that several nurses at Great Ormond Street offered to assist in the care of the baby outside the hospital setting.