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Indi Gregory and best interests

Indi was eight months old and had a disease with no cure. Her parents wanted treatment to continue, and a hospital in Rome offered to take her. Judges in England ruled that it was in her best interests to stop.

Updated 12 October 2026 (2 minute read)

AutonomyBeneficenceNon maleficence
  1. Indi is born
  2. Placed on full life support
  3. High Court rules treatment can stop
  4. Italy offers citizenship and a hospital place
  5. She dies in a hospice

Summary

  • Indi Gregory was born on 24 February 2023 with a rare metabolic disorder that progressively damages the brain, along with a heart defect.
  • From 6 September 2023 she was on full life support in the children's intensive care unit at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
  • The hospital asked the High Court for permission to stop invasive treatment. Her parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, wanted everything possible done to keep her alive.
  • On 13 October 2023 Mr Justice Peel agreed with the hospital. He found that:
    • she "experiences significant pain and distress several times a day"
    • she would not recover
    • "the burdens of invasive treatment outweigh the benefits"
  • Italy made Indi a citizen on 6 November, and the Bambino Gesù children's hospital in Rome offered to treat her.
  • The Court of Appeal refused to let her go on 10 November, calling the Italian legal argument "wholly misconceived". She died in a hospice on 13 November 2023.
Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham

Dig deeper

  • The law on these disputes has not changed since.
  • A Nuffield Council on Bioethics review in September 2023 recommended a government taskforce to reduce them. Ministers said they would consider it, and none has been announced.
  • "Charlie's Law", which would have guaranteed families earlier mediation and an outside second opinion, has never been passed.
  • On 16 April 2025 the Supreme Court decided that orders hiding the names of clinicians in these cases should be time limited. Doctors who want to stay anonymous afterwards must apply to a court themselves.
  • The same argument was fought over Charlie Gard in 2017 and Alfie Evans in 2018, and the courts reached the same answer.

Ethical issues

PrincipleHow it applies here
AutonomyIndi could not choose for herself, so her parents chose for her. The law stops short of letting parents require a treatment that doctors believe is hurting the child without helping her.
BeneficenceA judge decides what is best for the child, which Mr Justice Peel called "the paramount consideration". The court starts from "a strong presumption in favour of taking all steps to preserve life".
Non maleficenceThe judge found daily pain with no chance of recovery. When the offer from Rome came, he ruled that moving her would not be in her best interests either.

Interview questions

  • What do you know about the Indi Gregory case?
  • Who should decide when parents and doctors disagree about a child's treatment?
  • A dying child's parents want every possible treatment, and your team believes it is causing her to suffer. How do you approach that conversation?
  • A hospital abroad has offered to take the child. Should an English court be able to stop the parents accepting?
  • What does "best interests" mean, and who decides it?
  • How is this case similar to the Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans cases?
  • What could be done to stop these disagreements reaching court?

Sources

  1. The National Archives, case lawcaselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/…/2556
  2. LBClbc.co.uk/…/critically-ill-baby-indi-gregory-granted-italian-citizenship
  3. au.news.yahoo.comau.news.yahoo.com/…/uk-court-rejects-appeal-over-180433895.html
  4. Nuffield Council on Bioethicsnuffieldbioethics.org/…/independent-review-of-disagreements-in-the-care-of-criticall
  5. The National Archives, case lawcaselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/…/press-summary
  6. The National Archives, case lawcaselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/…/972
  7. LBClbc.co.uk/…/indi-gregory-lose-court-fight-rome-DWzjDB_2

Photo: mattbuck, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, colour altered.

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Related

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More NHS hot topics, medical ethics case studies and medical school interview questions are in AlphaMED Resources, which we add to and update through the application cycle.