the proposed experimental treatment was futile. The second hearing at the High Court, which had been arranged to hear and examine the new evidence then became concerned with the arrangements for the withdrawal of life support. On 27 July, by consent, Charlie was transferred to a hospice, mechanical ventilation was withdrawn, and he died the next day at the age of 11 months and 24 days. The case attracted widespread attention in Britain and around the world, with expressions of concern and assistance offered by figures including then U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Francis. At the time of Charlie's death, The Washington Post wrote that the case "became the embodiment of a passionate debate over his right to live or die, his parents' right to choose for their child and whether his doctors had an obligation to intervene in his care". Treatment Charles Matthew William Gard was born on 4 August 2016, at full term and normal weight, to Christopher Gard, a postman, and Constance Yates, a carer for young people with learning difficulties, both of Bedfont, west London. He seemed to develop normally at first, but his parents noticed after a few weeks that he was less able to lift his head, and they took him to his GP. On 2 October 2016, they reported that he was being breastfed every 2–3 hours but was not gaining weight. He was fed a high-calorie formula through a nasogastric tube, an ECG was carried out, and a cranial MRI scan was performed on 7 October. On 11 October, Charlie was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and put on a mechanical ventilator, because his breathing had become shallow. By November, the doctors suspected that he had mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS), a set of rare diseases caused by mutations in genes essential for mitochondria to function. This diagnosis was confirmed by a genetic test in mid-November, which found that he had two mutated versions of the gene coding for the RRM2B protein. The gene for RRM2B is in the cell nucleus; the protein it codes is necessary for generating nucleosides that are used to make deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in mitochondria. The mitochondria fail in people lacking a functional version of this protein, causing brain damage, muscle weakness (including of the muscles used to breathe) and organ failure, and usually leading to death during infancy. Only 15 other cases of