Originally Posted by
Letters
I do believe in miraculous healings. Well, it's more than a vague belief, I know a couple of people quite well who have experienced them. But I also know that these things are not common. And the parents in this case weren't basing their hopes for Charlie on faith in such things, they simply thought they knew better than the doctors. They still do.
Now, doctors make mistakes, obviously. But when multiple medical experts who have years of training and experience (when you have none) keep telling you the same thing then it's time to stop telling them they're wrong. The parents have repeatedly lied about the kid's condition and even now they're saying that had GOSH not delayed treatment then their son could have recovered and had a normal life. That is NOT true. There is no cure or treatment for this condition. Even this "experimental" treatment has never even been tried on this variation of the kid's condition and the doctor who offered it conceded it would not reverse the extensive brain damage which had already occurred.
They are painting GOSH as the "bad guys". They say they've been fighting for Charlie, I just think they've been fighting for themselves, unable to accept the reality of what has happened. For once I don't blame the press for whipping up this circus, the parents have actively courted publicity, they didn't need to accept the interviews if they wanted this to be a private matter. It suited their agenda to court the publicity. And the result is GOSH staff being abused and threatened and protests accusing the GOSH of letting Charlie die when something could have been done (which it couldn't). And all the time poor Charlie lies there as this drags on and on, unable to see, unable to move, unable to breathe without being assisted. I just hope he hasn't been in pain.
It IS easy to sit here pontificating, I've never been in their situation and I hope I never have to be. But I do know other people who have been in similar situations and they have come to an agreement with the doctors to end life support, they haven't dragged it through the courts and made it a national story. So people saying "any parent would have done the same" are simply wrong.
I do feel sorry for the parents, they had a (seemingly) perfectly healthy baby boy and then all this happened. But they have refused to accept the reality of what happened and that has meant more suffering for Charlie, abuse of the GOSH staff and resources wasted on keeping Charlie alive artificially when those resources could have been better spent on kids who have a chance of recovery when he had none.
As I said before, there are no winners in all this, only losers. But maybe some good can come out of the money they raised.