Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government has granted a critically ill British baby citizenship less than an hour before UK medical staff were set to remove the child’s life support.
The move will mean eight-month-old baby Indi Gregory, from Derbyshire, who has mitochondrial disease, can go to Rome for treatment if allowed by the UK courts – with Italian Prime Minister Meloni saying that she would do everything in her power to “defend her life” until the end.
“They say there isn’t much hope for little Indi, but until the very end, I’ll do what I can to defend her life.
“And to defend the right of her mamma and papa to do all that they can for her,” Ms Meloni wrote on X.
Dicono che non ci siano molte speranze per la piccola Indi, ma fino alla fine farò quello che posso per difendere la sua vita. E per difendere il diritto della sua mamma e del suo papà a fare tutto quello che possono per lei. pic.twitter.com/3qKghAi1Uh
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) November 6, 2023
Italy’s first female Prime Minister convened a meeting of her cabinet on Monday afternoon for the sole purpose of addressing Indi’s case. Within minutes, cabinet ministers had agreed to grant citizenship to Indi, after the cabinet cited “preeminent humanitarian values”.
The eleventh hour intervention came two days after baby Indi’s parents lost a second legal battle to extend her treatment – when the Court of Appeal backed a High Court decision not to allow Indi parents to move their critically ill baby to Italy for treatment.
It came after a UK High Court judgement on Thursday ruled against allowing Indi’s parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, to move her to a hospital in Rome, prompting them to go to Court of Appeal judges in the hope that they would overturn the decision.
“An appeal would have no chance of success,” Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Peter Jackson said in their written ruling on Saturday.
“Indeed we have reached the clear view that after reading all the evidence and arguments that the decision was sadly inevitable and right, and that it was reached with the degree of care that is always appropriate in such a serious matter.”
However, the Italian ruling, made at about 2.15pm Italian time on Monday, has been designed to block hospital staff at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham from extubating the baby. It means Indi’s parents’ life support fight will go on, and that a legal stay has been placed on her life-support system which was due to expire 45 minutes after the Italian cabinet granted the baby citizenship so she could travel there for treatment.
Ms Staniforth and Mr Gregory will now seek to transfer their daughter to the Vatican-run Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, which has offered to treat the baby. The treatment will be paid for by Italian authorities, with zero cost to British taxpayers or to the National Health Service.
The little girl’s illness means she has to receive round-the-clock treatment for the incurable condition, which means that cells in the body are unable to produce energy. Baby Indi has not left hospital since her birth and has underwent two operations since she was born, including a bowel operation in Leicester, and a brain operation in Birmingham to treat fluid on the brain.
British specialists have insisted that Indi is dying and bosses at the Nottingham hospital where she is receiving care requested a ruling that doctors could lawfully limit treatment.
‘THE ITALIANS HAVE SHOWN US CARE AND LOVING SUPPORT’
Speaking after the Italian Cabinet made its decision, Indi’s parents said that the Italians had shown them “care and loving support” and that they wished UK authorities had been the same.
“My heart fills up with joy that the Italians have given Claire and I hope and faith back in humanity,” Indi’s father Dean Gregory said.
“The Italians have shown us care and loving support and I wish the UK authorities were the same.
‘‘I’m very proud to say Indi has Italian citizenship and I thank the Italian government and the Italian people from the bottom of my heart,” he added.
The case will now proceed to the High Court, where an urgent application has been made to have the case re-reviewed. The Christian Legal Centre has been supporting the family, with the organisation’s chief executive Andrea Williams saying that the case was reminiscent of previous cases from Britain.
The charity also supported the families of British children Archie Battersbee, Charlie Guard, and Alfie Evans – all of whom had been offered treatment at the Vatican hospital but ultimately lost their legal appeals to have their children treated there.
Ms Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, said it was “a tale of two countries,” stating: “This reminds us of previous cases, where another country is prepared to go so far as to grant citizenship in order to pave the way for a different pathway for the child. Fundamentally this is a tale of two countries with two different views regarding the protection of life and parental rights.”
Meanwhile, Grazia Di Maggio, an MP for Ms Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, said that Italy was “rooting for” Indi.
“By granting citizenship to the little girl, the cabinet wanted to at least give her a chance and to give hope to her parents. So welcome to Italy, Indi, we are rooting for you,” Mr Di Maggio said following the decision.
Indi’s grandmother, Nicola Thomas, has said that despite the child’s serious illness, she remains a “happy little baby.”
“We want Indi to live,” she told the BBC following the ruling at the weekend.
“It’s an eight-month-old baby, at the end of the day, and it’s her life and we’re all heartbroken,” she said, insisting that, “There’s definitely hope.”
“We’re still going to fight. We’re going to keep going until there’s no more fight left,” she pledged.
High Court judge Mr Justice Peel, in his judgement on Thursday, had insisted that a transfer to Italy would not be in the baby’s best interests.
However, her parents have disputed this, and say Italian medics have agreed it would be in the child’s best interests to allow her treatment.
“We don’t see how it’s in Indi’s best interests to be taken to a hospice or home to potentially pass away when we’ve got this truly beautiful offer from Italy who are willing to help and treat her.
“We’ve got two experts who both agree it’s in her best interests to have these treatments,” Indi’s parents Dean and Claire told Sky News on Saturday, as they described the British Court’s judgement as a “bad decision” – saying they were “disappointed, heartbroken and shocked.”
A GoFundMe, set up by Indi’s father Dean, has so far raised over £12,000, with the family appealing to the public to help Indi with “the right to stay alive.”
The funding raised will help towards the baby’s future care and treatment, and also contributed to the family’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to stop the baby’s life support.
The child’s parents have described their daughter as “the strongest little girl and a real fighter.” Taking to their GoFundMe page, Dean and Claire say they are doing “what’s in the best interests of Indi, not what’s in the best interests of the system” in their legal battle to allow her care to continue.
Mr Gregory has also decried a “system of the State that takes away the rights of parents to decide” and Indi’s “right to live” – claiming it “is criminal in every way possible.”
Indi’s parents will now be able to appeal to the Italian consulate in Britain to request a transfer for her daughter to Italy – however an Italian source has confirmed that there will be no obligation for authorities in Britain to allow the request.