Death and Dying

I no longer say she committed suicide, because she did not commit a sin or a crime.

Charlie Gard died on Friday, July 28 after his parents gave up a protracted legal battle with a London hospital over whether he could be successfully treated in the United States for a rare genetic condition.

The judge in the case could rule that 11-month-old Charlie should be moved from a London hospital to a hospice and his life-support machines will be turned off shortly afterward unless his parents come up with alternative arrangements acceptable to the High Court.

It’s not just for the family. It’s for you.

The parents of Charlie Gard dropped their legal bid Monday to send him to the United States for an experimental treatment after new medical tests showed that the window of opportunity to help him had closed.

Catholic bishops there are grappling with a difficult question: Should those who end their lives with the assistance of medication be given a Catholic funeral?