This is an undated hand out photo of Chris Gard and Connie Yates with their son Charlie Gard provided by the family, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London. The president of the United States has... (Associated Press) 
 
 This is an undated hand out photo of Chris Gard and Connie Yates with their son Charlie Gard provided by the family, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London. The president of the United States has... (Associated Press) 
 
 LONDON (AP) — A terminally ill British child has attracted the attention of both the president of the United States and the pope. More than 1.3 million pounds ($1.68 million) has been raised to help 11-month-old Charlie Gard travel to America for treatment. 
 
 But little has changed for baby Charlie, who suffers from a rare genetic disease that has left him brain damaged and unable to breathe unaided. The life support he is receiving at a London hospital soon will be turned off over the objections of his parents, who want to take him to the United States for experimental therapy they believe could prolong his life. 
 
 A succession of judges has backed specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital who say the treatment won't help Charlie and may cause him to suffer. Britain's Supreme Court ruled it's in the boy's best interests to be allowed to die with dignity. The European Court of Human Rights last week rejected an appeal from Charlie's parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, exhausting their legal options. 
 
 They have been spending time with Charlie before he is taken off life support. 
 
 By wading into the case in recent days, President Donald Trump and Pope Francis have given Gard and Yates new hope and shined an international spotlight on an ethical debate that pits the rights of parents to decide what's best for their children against the authorities with responsibility for ensuring that people who can't speak for themselves receive the most appropriate care. 
 
 "The world is watching," reads the headline across the top of charliesfight.org, the website dedicated to Charlie's cause. "Two of the most powerful men in the world want to give Charlie Gard his chance." 
 
 Great Ormond Street Hospital said Tuesday there were no new updates in Charlie's care. 
 
 Trump tweeted Monday that he would be "delighted" to help Charlie, who is suffering from mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which causes progressive muscle weakness. The president's comment came after Pope Francis issued a statement saying the parents' rights to treat their son "until the end" should be respected. 
 
 The Vatican children's hospital studied whether it was possible for Great Ormond Street to transfer Charlie to Rome. But Bambino Gesu hospital President Mariella Enoc said she was informed that the board of the London hospital said Charlie cannot be moved for legal reasons. 
 
 However, the matter was still being examined Tuesday. 
 
 "I was contacted by the mother, who is a very determined and decisive person and doesn't want to be stopped by anything," Enoc told reporters. 
 
 Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said the Holy See will do everything it can to overcome legal obstacles to bringing Charlie to Bambino Gesu for treatment. 
 
 "Overcome these problems? If we can do it, we will do it," Parolin said. 
 
 The fight over keeping Charlie alive is not about money. Charlie's parents have used a crowdfunding website to raise the money needed to pay for his treatment in the U.S. Instead, it revolves around an ethical debate about what's best for the child. 
 
 Under British law, it is normal for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child — such as cases where a parent's religious beliefs prohibit blood transfusions. 
 
 The rights of the child take primacy, rather than the rights of parents to make the call. It is a principle that applies even in cases where parents have an alternative point of view, according to Britain's Court of Appeal. 
 
 And Britain's courts have been consistent in this case. Three courts agreed that the experimental treatment would be futile and may "well cause pain, suffering and distress to Charlie." The parents then took their case to the European Court of Human Rights, which refused to intervene and endorsed the British judges' decision. 
 
 "This was a decision about what is best for this child," said Claire Fenton-Glynn, an academic at the University of Cambridge who studies children's rights. "This is an incredibly difficult decision for the court, and it's not one that the doctors or the court have taken lightly." 
 
 "It's this terrible, terrible situation," she said. "It's a horrible thing to have to decide." 
 
 In the United States, such disputes are normally negotiated between parents and doctors, according to Arthur Caplan, head of the division of bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City. A family's ability to afford endless care usually poses a bigger obstacle than ethical disagreements. 
 
 Even the Vatican had difficulty with Charlie's case, as was clear in the conflicting messages that at first came from the Holy See. The pope's top bioethics official initially suggested that while the parents' wishes should be respected, they must also be helped to accept the limits of medicine. 
 
 After an outcry from conservatives, Pope Francis issued a statement of his own, insisting on the need to respect the wishes of the parents to "accompany and treat" their son to the very end. 
 
 Caplan said Charlie's situation is a reminder that medicine and technology can't fix everything, even in wealthy countries with cutting-edge technology. 
 
 "It is a strong belief in the U.S and U.K. that medicine has one more trick up its sleeve," Caplan said. "It's like an article of faith. But it's almost never true at the end of life." ||||| A New York City hospital has offered to help Charlie Gard, a terminally ill British 11-month-old who U.K. and European courts have prevented from being treated abroad. 
 
 Gard suffers from a rare genetic condition that has left him brain damaged and unable to breathe on his own. His parents tried to bring him to the U.S. for an experimental treatment, but that effort that was blocked by the courts after doctors said it would not help him. 
 
 Both Pope Francis and President Trump have offered to help Gard, with Mr. Trump weighing in on the matter with a tweet earlier this week. 
 
 If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2017 
 
 In a statement Thursday night, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center said it had agreed to admit Gard. 
 
 "New-York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center have agreed to admit and evaluate Charlie, provided that arrangements are made to safely transfer him to our facility, legal hurdles are cleared, and we receive emergency approval from the FDA for an experimental treatment as appropriate," the hospital said in a statement. 
 
 "Alternatively, if approved by the FDA, we will arrange shipment of the experimental drug to Great Ormond Street Hospital and advise their medical staff on administering it if they are willing to do so." 
 
 British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson announced earlier this week that he supported the courts' decisions. 
 
 "The foreign secretary said this was a deeply tragic and complex case for all involved, and said it was right that decisions continued to be led by expert medical opinion, supported by the courts, in line with Charlie's best interests," Johnson's spokesman said in statement. 
 
 Undated photo of Charlie Gard provided by his family, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London. Family of Charlie Gard via AP 
 
 Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to report Charlie Gard's correct age. ||||| Charlie Gard: judge to decide on parent's 'last wish' that son can die at home 
 
 A judge will decide on Wednesday whether to grant the “last wish” of Charlie Gard’s parents and allow their son to go home to die. 
 
 
 
 A day after Connie Yates and Chris Gard ended their opposition to the removal of their critically ill baby’s life support system, the couple returned to court on Tuesday to ask that Great Ormond Street hospital’s objections to him being allowed to go home be overruled. 
 
 During another tense hearing, the court heard the objections related to the impracticality of providing the intensive care 11-month-old Charlie is receiving in hospital at home for the “period of days” his parents want him kept alive. 
 
 Timeline Charlie Gard Show Hide Birth Charlie Gard is born a “perfectly healthy” baby at full term and at a “healthy weight”. First symptoms His parents notice he is less able to lift his head and support himself than other babies of a similar age. Doctors discover that he has a rare inherited disease – infantile onset encephalomyopathy mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS). 
 
 Hospital Charlie has become lethargic and his breathing is shallow. He is transferred to Great Ormond Street hospital for children in London on 11 October. 
 
 Crowdfunding A crowdfunding page is set up to help finance trial therapy in the United States. Request to high court Great Ormond Street hospital bosses ask the high court judge, Mr Justice Francis, to rule that life-support treatment should stop. First ruling The judge says doctors can stop providing life-support treatment after analysing the case at a hearing in the family division of the high court. 
 
 Appeal Charlie’s parents ask three court of appeal judges to consider the case but less than three weeks later their appeal is dismissed. Supreme court ruling Charlie’s parents lose their fight in the supreme court. European court of human rights The case proceeds to the European court of human rights but a week later it is announced that the European judges have refused to intervene. A Great Ormond Street spokeswoman says there will be “no rush” to change Charlie’s care and says there will be “careful planning and discussion”. More time It is thought that Charlie’s life-support is due to be switched off but his parents say that Great Ormond Street doctors have agreed to “give us a little bit more time” with Charlie. They ask for privacy “while we prepare to say the final goodbye”. Interventions Pope Francis and the US president, Donald Trump, intervene; the former calling for the couple to be allowed to “accompany and treat their child until the end”, saying he has followed the case with “affection and sadness”. Vatican hospital Bambino Gesu, the Vatican’s children’s hospital in Rome, offers to take Charlie in. Return to high court Charlie’s parents return to the high court and ask Mr Justice Francis to carry out fresh analysis of the case. The judge says he will consider any new evidence. Dr Michio Hirano The New York neurology professor who offered to treat Charlie travels to London to examine the little boy, discuss the case with Great Ormond Street doctors and other clinicians and examine fresh scans. New scan The lawyer representing Great Ormond Street says the new scan makes for “sad reading”. Abuse Great Ormond Street chairwoman Mary MacLeod says doctors and nurses have been subjected to abuse in the street and received thousands of threatening messages. Charlie’s parents had previously urged people not to send abuse to Great Ormond Street staff. The end of the legal fight The judge’s decision was initially expected the next day but a lawyer representing Charlie’s parents say they are ending their legal fight over his treatment. 
 
 But Grant Armstrong, the lawyer for Yates and Gard, said he was at pains to understand why the hospital sought to deny them their “last wish”. 
 
 He said: “We struggle with the difficulties which the hospital has placed in the way of the parents’ wish to have a period of time probably a relatively short period of time … before the final act in Charlie’s short life.” 
 
 The infant’s parents abandoned their fight to allow him to be flown to the US for experimental treatment on Monday, having determined it was no longer viable. 
 
 But Armstrong said the couple had been forced to return to the high court in London on Tuesday for the “most difficult, emotional part of the case, [the] circumstances in which Charlie’s passing will be conducted”. 
 
 He claimed that, having agreed in principle in April that it would be possible for Charlie to be flown to the US for treatment, it made no sense for Great Ormond Street hospital (Gosh) to say the child could not be taken to the family home in west London or that of one of their relatives – the parents’ two preferred options. 
 
 But Katie Gollop QC, for Gosh, said the flight to the US would have required a specialist intensive care team, which would not be available in a home setting for days on end. 
 
 She said the hospital was willing to fulfil the parental wishes if it was “practical, possible and safe, and in Charlie’s interests so that he comes to no harm”. 
 
 Victoria Butler-Cole, the lawyer instructed by Charlie’s guardian, said the options with respect to him dying at home were withdrawing ventilation within “a matter of hours” or after “a period of days”. 
 
 But she said the latter option was unrealistic because it would require “replicating intensive care outside an intensive care unit”, including a team of three doctors. 
 
 Gosh said it was unable to provide such a team or source one from anywhere in the country. The court heard it was difficult to get medical professionals to provide such care at home because of the risk of complications and the fact that they would not be covered by insurance. 
 
 Speaking after the hearing, Yates pleaded for any paediatric intensive care doctor to come forward to help them. She said: “We promised Charlie every day we would take him home. It seems really upsetting after everything we’ve been through to deny us this.” 
 
 Gollop said Gosh had identified a hospice that was willing to take Charlie, which she said had been difficult given the publicity surrounding the case. But, as Yates wept and held her head in her hands, Armstrong said that although that was preferential to Charlie dying in hospital it would still be seen as “brutality” if he were only there for a few hours. 
 
 Describing it as “the most difficult, painful process for the parents”, Mr Justice Francis urged the parties to resolve their differences outside the courtroom. 
 
 Quick guide Charlie Gard and mitochondrial disease Show Hide What is wrong with Charlie Gard? Charlie has a very rare mitochondrial disease caused by a genetic defect inherited from his parents. The official diagnosis is infantile onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, referred to generally as “MDDS”. What is mitochondrial disease? Mitochondria supply energy to the cells in the human body. Mitochondrial failure leads to cellular injury and cell death. When multiple cells fail, the body’s organs are damaged and shut down. These diseases are usually fatal and kill children, although sometimes they don’t show up until adulthood. Where they don’t kill, they cause serious permanent brain damage. What is the damage to Charlie? Charlie is in intensive care at Great Ormond Street hospital in London, the leading children’s hospital in the UK. Life support machines are keeping him alive. The hospital says that he has severe brain damage, cannot move or breathe by himself, is deaf and has epilepsy. It says his heart, liver and kidneys are also affected. His eyelids cannot stay open and because of the weakness of the muscles, his eyes point in different directions and the damage to the brain will not allow his sight to develop. 
 
 As it became apparent there was no prospect of that happening, he said given what he had heard about the need for an intensive care team, were he deciding the issue on the civil standard of proof he would rule out the prospect of Charlie being ventilated for days, whether in a hospice or at home. 
 
 But he went on to say that “given the gravity of the situation and the need to be as human as I can” he would give Charlie’s parents more time to make their case and make a final decision, in the absence of any unexpected developments, on Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 At the end of the often acrimonious hearing, during which Butler-Cole told the court that the latest disagreement was a reflection of what happens when there was “such a fundamental breakdown in communications”, Armstrong, who was in tears in court on Tuesday, angrily confronted Gollop.
– A New York City hospital says it has "agreed to admit and evaluate" Charlie Gard, the terminally ill British baby whose case has attracted the attention of Pope Francis and President Trump. New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center says it can admit 11-month-old Charlie, provided he can be safely transferred, "legal hurdles are cleared, and we receive emergency approval from the FDA for an experimental treatment," CBS reports. Charlie is currently in London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the New York hospital says another option would be to send the experimental drug there if the FDA approves, reports the Washington Post. The Vatican has also offered to bring Charlie, who has a rare genetic disease, to Rome's Bambino Gesu hospital for treatment, but British courts have ruled that the boy should be kept in the UK and taken off life support because further treatment would only prolong his suffering. "The world is watching," website charliesfight.org says. "Two of the most powerful men in the world want to give Charlie Gard his chance." But despite the offers of help, the legal situation has not changed for Charlie, who could be taken off life support at any time, the AP reports. Legal experts say British courts dealing with the " terrible, terrible situation" have decided that overruling his parent's wishes is the best thing for the child.