The Italian government has sent an ambulance on a military plane to remove a newborn baby from a Bristol hospital in a highly unusual move after the boy’s parents said there was nothing more doctors could do for the child.
The less than a month old infant has not yet been given a name. Sky News reports that his parents are from a mixed Italian-Nigerian family, but are residents of the United Kingdom.
The Italian government says the child has a “very serious heart deformity” and that it intervened after Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital was unable to offer further treatment.
Simone Pilon, an Italian lawyer and former senator, said it would pave the way for children to receive treatment abroad “without taking the parents to court, as we have seen in previous high-profile cases.”
Pilon, who has previously stepped in to help parents get their children to Italy for treatment, called it a landmark case for childcare.
“I believe if we find a way to work together for the benefit of the children, we all win; there are no losers,” he told the channel. “We thank the hospital and the British doctors. The family also wants to say thank you.”
Pilon said Italian doctors began operating on the baby on Wednesday and would continue on Thursday.
The Italian prime minister’s office said Air Force C130 landed at Ciampino Airport near Rome at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, with “a newborn Italian citizen who was born in the United Kingdom a couple of days ago.”
The baby was transferred to the Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital in Rome.
