Right Brain: Withholding treatment from a child with an epileptic encephalomyopathy
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Abstract
The case of Charlie Gard, an infant who was hospitalized in England due to a mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome that led to an epileptic encephalomyopathy, was highly publicized. Though Charlie's parents lobbied for him to receive experimental nucleoside replacement therapy as a desperate effort to save him, this request was denied, and after a lengthy legal battle, he died in late July 2017. We discuss the ethical considerations and consequences of this case.
Glossary
- GOSH=
- Great Ormond Street Hospital
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article
- © 2018 American Academy of Neurology
Disputes & Debates: Rapid online correspondence
- Author response to Dr. Tuck
- Aaron Rothstein, Physician, NYU School of Medicine
- Ariane Lewis, Neurocritical Care Physician, NYU School of Medicine
Submitted July 01, 2018 - Author Response: Baby Charlie of London
- Aaron Rothstein, Neurology Resident, NYU School of Medicine
- Ariane Lewis, Associate Professor of Neurology, NYU School of Medicine
Submitted May 27, 2018 - Reader Response: Withholding treatment from a child with an epileptic encephalomyopathy
- Keiran K. Tuck, Neurologist, Legacy Health
Submitted May 24, 2018 - Reader response: Withholding treatment from a child with an epileptic encephalomyopathy
- Todd J. Janus, Physican, Dept of Neurology, University of Iowa
Submitted May 16, 2018 - Baby Charlie of London
- Nitin K. Sethi, Associate Professor of Neurology, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center (New York)
Submitted April 30, 2018
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