STRASBOURG, France, March 28, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A European court panel has rejected the final appeal in the fight to save the life of baby Alfie Evans.
A three-judge panel of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), located in Strasbourg, France, ruled today 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 BBC reported.
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.”
“Does our son look in any of these pictures like he is dying,” he asked in a Facebook post along with photos of his son published hours ago.
“None of these are seizure or reflexes, he is clearly there alive.”
“We as parents are not giving up…our son is about to be murdered, taken away from us, his innocent life is about to be taken,” he wrote.
Evans begged that Queen Elizabeth II, Pope Francis, or German Chancellor Merkel intervene to save Baby Alfie.
“Please our Queen, Pope Francis, please Angela Merkel, someone save our innocent not dying son.”
“We are in bits distraught in pain. He looks into our eyes every day. He responds to us every day. Alfie James Evans, we love you so so so much. We will do everything we can,” he said.
This latest ruling follows the Liverpool couple unsuccessfully taking their case through the entire UK court system, with the UK Supreme Court rejecting their previous appeal on March 20.
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.
Yesterday, Member of European Parliament Steven Woolfe sent a letter to NHS England head Simon Stevens on Alfie’s behalf, calling on the agency to authorize “secondary clinic options” in this and similar cases.
Woolfe said that without a conclusive diagnosis, Alfie’s case called for the “highest quality clinical opinion to guide treatment.”
“In desperation, Alfie's parents have obtained an offer of assessment and treatment in Italy and has been assessed independently as being fit to travel there. The trust has refused transfer and has instead sought recourse to the courts to end the life of their son,” he said.