Eight-month-old Indi Gregory’s parents had her baptized in anticipation of her death at the hands of the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) and its black-robed collaborators who ordered the infant’s life support removed despite urgent pleas from the Italian government, which offered to treat her life-threatening condition for free.
“When I was in the court, I felt as if hell pulled at me,” Dean Gregory, Indi’s father, told Aleteia in an article published Saturday. “I thought that if hell exists, then heaven must exist too.”
“I have seen what hell is like and I want Indi to go to heaven,” the heretofore irreligious man added.
While one may disagree with Gregory’s understanding of baptism, one could hardly dispute that he and his wife had gone through hell on Earth in trying to save their baby’s life.
“Indi Gregory has a mitochondrial disease that prevents her cells from producing energy,” pro-life advocate Lila Rose posted on X. “Children have survived for years with this condition.”
“Indi requires breathing support from a ventilator, but despite her condition, her parents say she is happy & responds to their touch,” she continued.
NHS doctors, however, claimed that Indi’s life, or at least her nebulously defined quality of life, was threatened by her condition and, therefore, that her life support should be revoked. (One suspects the socialist NHS’ decades-long financial crisis had something to do with it, too.)
While Indi’s parents were fighting to keep her alive, her plight came to the attention of the Italian government. Doctors at Rome’s Bambino Gesu Hospital, which lies within Vatican City, “outlined a detailed treatment plan for Indi,” wrote Rose. “They believe her breathing problems are caused by a treatable heart condition, known as Tetralogy of Fallo, rather than from her mitochondrial disease.”
“The condition could be fixed without surgery by inserting a right ventricular outflow tract stent,” she continued. “Experts say the treatment would ‘more likely than not’ enable Indi to survive without artificial ventilation.”
Such treatment would undoubtedly be expensive — but not to the NHS. Rome said it (i.e., Italian taxpayers) would foot the entire bill. What did the NHS have to lose by letting Indi go except unwanted costs and bad publicity?
But the NHS, having succeeded in offing such other “undesirables” as 11-month-old Charlie Gard and 23-month-old Alfie Evans, both of whom had similar offers for free treatment in foreign countries, wasn’t about to give up such power without a fight.
It found an ally in High Court Justice Robert Peel, who twice ruled against Indi’s transfer to Italy, declaring it was against her “best interests.” He further ordered that Indi not be allowed to go home to have her life support removed.
Undaunted, the Italian government did its level best to save Indi.
On November 6, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni granted Indi Italian citizenship. “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 mama and papa to do all that they can for her,” she posted on social media.
Three days later, as doctors prepared to remove Indi’s ventilator, the Italian consul in Manchester, having been appointed the baby’s guardian, “made an urgent application to the U.K. High Court calling on Mr. Justice Robert Peel to cede jurisdiction of the case to him under Article 9§2 of the 1996 Hague Convention,” reported Christian Concern, whose legal arm represented the Gregorys. Meloni made the same case to the U.K.’s Lord Chancellor.
The Hague Convention establishes rules for determining which country has “jurisdiction to take measures directed to the protection of the person or property of [a] child” when more than one country has a valid claim to do so. Article 9 permits the country that considers itself “better placed in the particular case to assess the child’s best interests” to petition the other country for permission to act on the child’s behalf.
Sadly, the U.K.’s Court of Appeal on Friday not only denied the Gregorys’ appeal of Peel’s order but also refused permission for Italy to take over Indi’s care. Italy’s request, they declared, was “wholly misconceived” and “not in the spirit of the convention.” Then they ordered the immediate removal of Indi’s ventilator.
According to Christian Concern, Indi was transported from the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham to a hospice. “It is understood that Indi was transferred from the hospital to an ambulance with a security escort. Even the police were present outside of the hospital.”
The organization reported that once she arrived at the hospice, her life support was removed. At one point Saturday night, “she stopped breathing, but then recovered.”
“She is fighting hard,” said Dean Gregory.
As of this writing, Indi’s death has not been reported. Perhaps she will live and even make a miraculous recovery. If so, it will be no thanks to His Majesty’s government.
Regardless of Indi’s future on Earth, her life and the battle to save it may have eternal ramifications. According to Aleteia, Dean Gregory “praised the testimony of a Christian volunteer who has visited Indi every day, and who told him that baptism ‘opens heaven’s gates.’” In fact, he said he (and probably also his wife, Claire) now wants to be baptized. If that baptism is accompanied by faith in Christ, Indi’s parents won’t have to worry about going through hell again.
UPDATE: The Guardian reported that Dean Gregory said Indi died in her mother’s arms after she was removed from life support shortly before 2:00 a.m. on Monday. Gregory stated, “They did succeed in taking Indi’s body and dignity, but they can never take her soul. They tried to get rid of Indi without anybody knowing, but we made sure she would be remembered forever. I knew she was special from the day she was born.”
