Baby Charlie – UK vs US healthcare

A recent case had stood at the forefront of health debate, the case of Charlie Gard and his parent’s battle with the British courts to allow him to have healthcare overseas. Specialists at Great Ormond Street hospital believe the baby has no chance of survival and that his treatment should not be continued. In response, the parents of Charlie raised money to travel him to America and have treatment there. However, the British courts ruled against this movement, saying it was not in Charlie’s interests. Of course, this is a case which must be approached with enormous sensitivity; however, it raises a variety of debates and issues that are useful for potential Oxbridge applicants to think about and discuss.

Students wishing to study Medicine must think about the ethical implications that this case has highlighted. Terms such as dignity and life are commonly infiltrated throughout the court rulings, and applicants must think about the decisions that doctors must make every single day. They might think about the implications this has both on patients and on doctor’s mental health.

Applicants applying for Law need to look into the many layers of law that exist in Britain and how this is changing in an increasingly globalised world. The process surrounding Charlie’s contains a network of overlapping lines of authority and court rulings. Terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard must continue to receive life support until judges make a ruling on whether he should undergo a trial treatment.

Parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates have launched a final legal challenge at the European Court of Human Rights after a Supreme Court challenge failed. European judges said doctors were required to keep the 10-month-old alive until they had passed judgement.

Applicants hoping to apply for HSPS or History and Politics could look at the power that the state can have directly into people’s lives, and the various areas of debate that cover to what extent the state should have this.