LIVERPOOL, England, March 29, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The father of a 22-month-old boy condemned to die by the European court says he is being “blackmailed” into cutting off his life support.
In a Thursday Facebook post, Thomas Evans said personnel at England’s Alder Hey Children's Hospital won’t let him hold Alfie Evans until he agrees to allow his son’s ventilator to be removed.
“I have just brought my sister niece and younger brother in Alfies room to give him cuddle time,” Evans says, “and was told that my family cannot hold my son until I speak about removing the vent with the consultants and agree to something.”
Nor can any other family member, the post adds, including Alfie’s 12-year-old cousin who was in the room when the family received the ultimatum.
“We are being blackmailed into our son's death,” the aggrieved parent writes. “Let's have this post be seen by the world how wrong.”
A European court panel rejected yesterday the final appeal in the fight to save the life of baby Alfie Evans, as LifeSiteNews reported.
A three-judge panel of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), located in Strasbourg, France, ruled that Tom Evans and Kate James’ appeal to take their 22-month-old son abroad for medical care was “inadmissible,” and that the child’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights were not being violated.
The panel also rejected the parents' request to block a High Court ruling allowing doctors to remove Alfie’s life support. Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where the baby is located in England, says the child has a “catastrophic and untreatable neurodegenerative condition” that would be “futile” to continue treating. Alfie’s parents have been fighting for the right to take him to Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome for further care.
Bambino Gesu Paediatric, a Vatican-linked facility, had offered to provide Alfie with full palliative care, including ventilation. As of the time of this writing, a crowdfunding campaign to finance the trip had reached 85% of its £100,000 goal.
The baby's father Thomas Evans said his son has been “failed disgracefully by the system.”
As LifeSiteNews has previously covered, video taken by Alfie’s parents shows the child “very much alive,” reacting to stimuli such as lights and his father's voice, as well as showing a variety of activity including yawning and stretching.