LIVERPOOL, England, April 5, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Just hours after receiving new signs of hope, now Alfie Evans’ parents say that Alder Hey Children's Hospital still intends to remove life support that will end the life of their son on Friday.
Earlier today, LifeSiteNews reported that the hospital agreed to delay the removal of the 22-month-old boy’s life support and instead evaluate new treatment options. But in a new Facebook post, Alfie’s mother Kate James accuses the hospital of giving them “false hope.”
She says that despite the fact that they presented the hospital with fresh evidence that Alfie was fit to be flown to another hospital, Alder Hey Hospital has “gone behind our backs and at 4 pm sent the application back to Justice Hayden to remove Alfie’s life support as soon as tomorrow, even though in the meeting they agreed to view the evidence and have a meeting over it.”
“We walked out of that meeting with confidence that alder hey were listening too [sic] us and in reality they went behind our backs and disregarded everything that went on in the meeting,” the post continued.
“They said they would review the new evidence and they put aside the talks of end of life until the new medical evidence was reviewed and we seeked [sic] a second opinion. On the back of this after the popes [sic] tweet for Alfie, Bambino gesu spoken [sic] out about Alfie’s care and hopefully they will push…to have him fly over there.”
“We are disgusted in what they have done and how they can get away with this!”
Alder Hey Hospital has confirmed that the meeting with Alfie’s family took place, but would not divulge specific details to the UK Mirror or the Liverpool Echo.
Earlier today, Member of European Parliament Steven Woolfe announced that the hospital had agreed to consider alternative treatment proposals, such as reducing Alfie’s dosage of the drug Clobazam, as well as evaluate whether he could be flown to Rome’s Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital, which has offered to give him palliative care. Aflie’s father Tom Evans has also appealed to the Vatican for asylum.
Evans has an unidentified neurodegenerative condition that Alder Hey Hospital claims is untreatable. For months, Alfie’s parents have been locked in a legal battle with UK courts to stop the hospital from removing Alfie’s life support. Their appeals have been denied at every turn, most recently at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France.
With the family’s legal options exhausted, today’s meeting was initially seen as their first glimmer of hope in the ordeal.
Throughout their fight, Alfie’s parents have repeatedly cited signs of life they say Alder Hey has never properly acknowledged. “Does our son look in any of these pictures like he is dying,” Tom Evans asked in a Facebook post along with photos of his son. “None of these are seizure or reflexes, he is clearly there alive.”
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. Most recently, Evans shared videos of Alfie taking breaths on his own.
Contact information for respectful communications:
Alder Hey Hospital
[email protected]
Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
[email protected]
Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool
[email protected]