Charlie Gard cannot go home to die because 'ventilator will not fit through front door'

Charlie Gard cannot go home to die because the ventilator keeping him alive will not fit through the front door, the High Court has heard.

His parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, have accused Great Ormond Street Hospital of putting ‘obstacles’ in the way of bringing him home.

Ms Yates returned to the High Court on Tuesday for a new hearing a day after abandoning legal action over treatment for the terminally-ill baby.

The couple told the court they want to take Charlie home, and indicated that Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) doctors thought such a move would be problematic.

Mr Justice Francis said GOSH believes the ventilator keeping Charlie alive will not fit through the front door of the property where his parents want to take him.

But he also said: ‘If going home can be achieved within reason then I would like to achieve that for them.’

On Monday, Charlie’s parents gave up attempts to persuade a judge to allow the 11-month-old to travel to America for experimental therapy.

Barrister Grant Armstrong, who represents the couple, suggested to Mr Justice Francis that hospital bosses were placing obstacles in Charlie’s parents’ way.

The judge said Great Ormond Street bosses had indicated that there were practical difficulties.

He said they had suggested a ‘hospice option’.

Mr Justice Francis said: ‘These are issues which cry out for settlement.’

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Lawyers for Great Ormond Street said bosses had suggested mediation, but added that Charlie’s parents had not wished to use the services of a mediator.

They also said medics wanted to avoid hazards or mishaps and wanted to ensure Charlie was safe.

They said practicalities were of the ‘greatest importance’ but that Charlie’s parents had proposed no clear plan.

The hospital’s lawyers said bosses wanted to fulfil Charlie’s parents’ ‘last desire’, but they indicated that providing intensive care to Charlie outside a hospital setting was not simple.

Mr Gard and Ms Yates, who are aged in their 30s and come from Bedfont, west London, had asked Mr Justice Francis to rule that Charlie should be allowed to undergo a therapy trial in New York.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street said the therapy would not help. They said life-support treatment should stop.

Mr Justice Francis in April ruled in favour of Great Ormond Street and said Charlie should be allowed to die with dignity.

Charlie’s parents subsequently failed to overturn his ruling in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in London.

They also failed to persuade European Court of Human Rights judges to intervene.

But the couple had recently returned to court, saying they had new evidence and they asked Mr Justice Francis to change his mind.

The couple abandoned their legal fight on Monday after concluding that Charlie had deteriorated to the ”point of no return”.