Indi Gregory: Judge rules baby's life support treatment can end

Doctors can withdraw life support from a critically ill seven-month-old baby, a High Court judge has ruled.

Indi Gregory has mitochondrial disease and medics at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham have said they can do no more for her.

Their application to the High Court to end her treatment had been opposed by the child's parents, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire.

Mr Justice Peel has ruled "with a heavy heart" that doctors can stop treatment.

In his judgment, the judge said the devotion of the family to Indi was "palpable" and their pain "almost unimaginable".

He said: "Nobody could fail to be moved by their concern for their child, and their belief in Indi's resilience, courage and fortitude."

However, he said while the wishes of the family were a powerful consideration, the medical evidence was "unanimous and clear".

Hearings have taken place behind closed doors but journalists have been allowed to attend and name Indi, her parents, and the hospital.

A doctor working at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUH) had told the judge Indi was dying from the illness.

However, Indi's parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, argued their daughter had "proved everyone wrong" and "needed more time".