Following the death of Indi Gregory this morning (13 November), Bishop Patrick McKinney, Bishop of Nottingham, and Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues, have given a statement:
“With deep sadness we express our condolences to Dean and Claire, parents of Indi Gregory, who died earlier today. We assure them of our prayers and those of all the Catholic Community, including Pope Francis, at this sad time.
“As a baptised child of God, we believe that she will now share in the joy of heaven after her short life which brought deep joy to her parents who loved and protected her as a precious gift of God.
“We thank all who worked so tirelessly to care for her at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham and at the hospice where she died.
“The legal battle between the NHS Trust and her parents shows again the need for greater weight to be given to the parental voice in these complex and sensitive cases. A simple way to begin to remedy this would be to amend the Health and Care Act 2022 by reintroducing Baroness Ilora Finlay’s amendment on ‘Dispute resolution in children’s palliative care’[1] formulated after the death of Charlie Gard.
“We will continue to contribute to wider discussions on questions of when treatment becomes disproportionate to any possible benefit and the duty of the continuation of basic care, including assisted nutrition and hydration, to protect the good of every child.”
Bishop Patrick McKinney
Bishop of Nottingham
Bishop John Sherrington
Lead Bishop for Life Issues and Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster
[1] https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3022/stages/16122/amendments/91480
https://www.cbcew.org.uk/bishops-statement-on-death-of-indi-gregory/
Pope Francis, Bishop Patrick McKinney and Bishop John Sherrington, have commented previously on the case of Indi Gregory. These comments can be found here:
https://www.cbcew.org.uk/pope-francis-prays-for-indi-gregory-and-her-family/