An appeal by the parents of ailing toddler Alfie Evans was dismissed by the UK Court of Appeal Wednesday, leaving the child to remain at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in England.
Tom Evans and Kate James had been appealing to take their son, Alfie, to Italy for treatment, after the child survived the removal of life support, against their will, at Alder Hey Hospital.
“It’s disgusting how he’s being treated. Not even an animal would be treated this way,” Evans said earlier in the day, adding that Alfie is “fighting.”
Alfie is a 23-month-old toddler who is in what physicians have described as a “semi-vegetative state” due to a mysterious degenerative neurological condition that doctors at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in London have not been able to properly diagnose. He has been hospitalized since December of 2016.
Against the wishes of his parents, Alfie’s life support machine was removed on Monday, and hydration was withheld from him. Although he was expected to die within minutes, he began breathing on his own, and several hours later, doctors re-administered oxygen and hydration. The hospital also withheld food for nearly 24 hours before allowing the toddler to again receive it, Alfie’s father said.
In a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Anthony Hayden of the High Court again denied Alfie the right to travel elsewhere to seek continued treatment, saying his ruling would be the “final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy.”
That ruling was upheld when the Court of Appeal dismissed appeals from Alfie’s parents late Wednesday.
Alife’s case first attracted international attention in March, when London’s Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s decision to end life support for Alfie. Judge Hayden of the High Court had ruled that “continued ventilator support is no longer in Alfie’s interests.”
Alfie’s parents had repeatedly made requests to transfer him to the Vatican-linked Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital in Rome, for further diagnosis and treatment. Tom Evans traveled to Rome to meet with Pope Francis in person April 18, where he plead for asylum for his family in Italy, so that his son could be moved.
Earlier this week Alfie was granted Italian citizenship in hopes that he would be allowed immediate transfer to Rome to be treated at Bambino Gesu Hospital.
However, the UK judge ruled that the transfer would not be in Alfie’s best interest, and he would not be allowed to travel to Rome or Munich, where another hospital had offered to treat him. An air ambulance had been ready and waiting to transport Alfie to Italy if the transfer was approved.
Pope Francis had offered prayers for Alfie and his family several times, including at a general audience and in several Twitter posts.
“Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted,” he said on Twitter Monday.
Pro-life, Catholic News, Human dignity, Alfie Evans
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
The article does not mention the basis for believing any alternative treatment in Italy or Germany would be beneficial to the child.
It is not a question of whether alternative treatment, if any, would be effective. Rather, the choice has been denied the parents entirely, even when the costs of transportation and treatment will be borne by non-British institutions.
mike m,
The article does state that the illness has not yet been fully diagnosed; therefore, the correct treatment has not yet been properly determined.
But this is no longer the central issue. In England, it seems that it’s the state that has primary custody of children. Natural and adoptive parents are only delegated custody which can be revoked by the state at will. This is contrary to the Natural Law and is very scary.
Just a thought to ponder:
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William Windsor, the future King of England, and Kate Middleton, both of Great Britain) just had a baby boy. If their newborn child suffered from the same malady as Alfie Evans, would the British medical system and legal system treat the newest addition to the Royal the same?
Also a coincidence—both mothers are named “Kate.”
@ mike m…True we don’t know but it’s worth a chance. This is not the first time the England’s NHS has usurped the rights of the parents.
i ran across a blogsite in italian that reports that alfie’s dad did an interview with Famiglia Cristiana where he states that the court’s mercilessness stems from the hospital and doctors fear of legal processes that could be brought by other families whose children died in similar ‘care situations’.
Alfie passed on Saturday morning. The CNA report link is below:
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/alfie-evans-dies-amid-outpouring-of-prayer-support-95330
Supposedly they used other children’s organs for transplants after they died without parental approval. That is where it gets super scary. If they can do that to those parents and their children , they can do it to anyone.
Merry old England isn’t so merry anymore, they have fallen to the likes of practicing Nazi medicine! Sounds like the government has succumbed to a form of communism.
Apparently the English Catholic prelates also failed:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/open-letter-uk-bishops-handling-of-alfie-evans-case-was-an-abject-failure