Martin Gottesfeld, who has been jailed for fighting against a hospital’s abuse of a teen girl, spoke out against the British court’s treatment of baby Charlie Gard on Monday.
Gottesfeld was arrested in 2016 after waging online hacking attacks against Boston Children’s Hospital for keeping Justina Pelletier in a psychiatric ward away from her parents and denying her treatment for mitochondrial disease; the state intervened on behalf of the hospital.
He issued a statement on Facebook that read:
When Charlie Gard’s parents wanted to discharge their baby from Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), there was hope for treatment elsewhere. Sadly though, Charlie never got that chance because doctors weren’t willing to let his parents leave with him. Instead, they insisted no one could help and the case went to court because they wanted him off the ventilator. In the time taken in the ensuing legal battle, Charlie’s window of opportunity for life-saving treatment for his mitochondrial disease closed and now we’ll never know what might have been.
Nobody could tell me how much better off Justina might be today if she had been able to resume her mitochondrial disease treatments one day earlier. Would she be walking again? How about figure skating? Like Charlies case, we’ll never know.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Charlie and his family tonight.
–Martin “MartyG” Gottesfeld
Charlie Gard has been left for dead by the cruel, sterile nature of Britain’s government-run health care system after they wouldn’t let his parents take him to the United States for experimental treatment for infantile-onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, a condition that results in organs being unable to function properly due to a lack of energy production. Instead, the British courts decreed that Charlie be left to “die with dignity” in the hospital, which is nothing more than bizarre Orwellian-speak for saying that the state maintains control with an iron fist.
Charle’s parents are now giving up their appeal against the British government-run health care system, as their baby has reached the point of no return with his condition.
Justina Pelletier didn’t face the same fate as Charlie Gard, as she was eventually returned to her parents. But both are reflective of the cold-hearted nature of government bureaucracy when it gets involved in health care.
Gottesfeld could face up to 25 years in prison for his hacking efforts against the hospital for their treatment of Justina. For more information about his case, check out this website.