Critically Ill British Baby Granted Italian Citizenship, Vatican Hospital Offers Care Amid Legal Battle over Life Support

Emergency Italian citizenship granted just 45 minutes before life-support was scheduled to be removed; Parents now appealing for transfer to Rome, as UK doctors say continued treatment is futile.

The Italian government conferred citizenship on eight-month-old Indi Gregory, a British baby suffering from an incurable mitochondrial disease, moments before her life-support system was scheduled to be removed in the UK.
The Vatican-run Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome has offered to provide care for Indi, with the treatment costs covered by the Italian authorities without any impact on the NHS or British taxpayers.
The family's lawyers will apply for an urgent High Court review of the case, but an earlier ruling determined that transferring Indi to Italy would not be in her best interests.
Doctors at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre say that Indi's treatment is causing her pain and is ultimately futile, whereas her parents and backers assert her right to life and for treatment to continue.
Despite the Italian citizenship and the offer of care from the Vatican hospital, there is no obligation for British authorities to grant the request for transferring Indi to Italy.