The parents of terminally ill baby Charlie Gard have threatened to complain to prosecutors if doctors do not continue life support treatment, Supreme Court justices have been told.
Bedfont couple Chris Gard and Connie Yates, who are at the centre of a legal dispute want 10-month-old Charlie Gard, who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, to undergo a therapy trial in America.
Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, where Charlie is being cared for, say therapy proposed by a doctor in the US is experimental and will not help. They say life support treatment should stop.
Charlie's parents, who are in their 30s, have asked the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg , France, to consider the case after losing battles in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Strasbourg judges have said doctors in London should continue providing life support treatment to Charlie until midnight tonight to give the couple's lawyers time to submit detailed legal arguments.
They might want treatment to be continued for a longer period to give them time to analyse submissions.
Lawyers representing Great Ormond Street specialists have raised concern about orders to continue treatment.
Three Supreme Court justices are analysing their concerns at a hearing in London.
Barrister Katie Gollop QC, who heads Great Ormond Street's legal team, told justices that doctors treating Charlie were in an "invidious position".
The legal battle for Charlie's life
Ms Gollop said doctors thought that only palliative care was in Charlie's best interests.
But she said lawyers representing Charlie's parents had threatened to complain to the Crown Prosecution Service if life support treatment was stopped.
Lawyers representing Charlie's parents say parents should be free to make decisions about their children's treatment unless it poses a risk of significant harm.
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