Martini told The Catholic Register it was a marathon three-day session of talks with the London hospital to help in the arrangements of the transfer. But Baby Joseph is “resting well” in St. Louis, Martini said.

“He is on a breathing tube and his treatment is status quo,” he said.

The new hospital will be conducting its own evaluation of Joseph within days of his arrival.

Other U.S. hospitals had turned down the family's earlier request for a transfer and second opinion, noted the London Health Sciences Centre. The hospital defended its previous decision in an online statement: “Despite the strongest possible medical advice to the contrary from medical experts in Canada, the United States and Europe, the parents of Baby Joseph Maraachli have accepted an offer to transfer him by air to the faith-based Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.

"LHSC continues to be proud to stand behind their judgments and the care given to Baby Joseph. The judgments were sound, both medically and ethically, and the care Baby Joseph received from our staff was second to none anywhere in the world,” said CEO Bonnie Adamson.

The hospital argued that Joseph's condition is a “progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease.” It agreed to transfer the baby home to his parents, but refused to perform a tracheotomy which it called an “invasive procedure” and did not apply to Joseph's condition. The baby's father, Moe, said removing the tube without a tracheotomy would not have given his son a chance to survive at home.

Meanwhile, the hospital said it was “targeted by well-organized social media feeds and directly via e-mail with personal threats, threats to their families, innuendoes and falsehoods.”

As for the St. Louis hospital, it “has agreed to provide the medical evaluation and treatment requested by his parents,” ACLJ said in a statement.

"We're extremely pleased that this hospital — a leader in health care for children — has stepped forward to care for 'Baby Joseph' at such a critical time," said Jay Sekulow, ACLJ's chief counsel.

 

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