FFS! Charlie Gard's lawyer is also ... wait for it ... 'head of charity that backs assisted dying'

Greg P. | 6:02 PM on July 16, 2017

Yeah, this might be considered a conflict of interest:

Charlie Gard's parents angry that baby's lawyer is head of charity that backs assisted dying https://t.co/IrZAfUnIvF pic.twitter.com/y7IM6XMiCs

— Telegraph Breaking News (@TelegraphNews) July 16, 2017

From the Telegraph:

Charlie Gard’s parents have privately expressed their concern after discovering that the lawyer appointed to represent their 11-month-old son in court heads a charity that backs assisted dying.

Victoria Butler-Cole, who speaks on Charlie’s behalf in court, is chairman of Compassion in Dying, a sister organisation to Dignity in Dying which campaigns for a change in the law to make assisted dying legal in the UK. Dignity in Dying used to be called the Voluntary Euthanasia Society.

The two charities share the same chief executive and media team and trustees – such as Mrs Butler-Cole – can only sit on one charity if they support the aims of the other. Mrs Butler-Cole was appointed to the role by the publicly-funded state body Cafcass which acts in the best interests of children in court cases.

The rest here.

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