Opinion
Featured Image
Alfie and Thomas Evans.

March 26, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Baby Charlie Gard, Baby Isaiah Haarstrup, and now Baby Alfie Evans have had the odds stacked up against them in continuing as patients in a subsidized medical facility in the U.K., despite their parents' wishes. 

Once the babies were admitted to hospital, the parents were repeatedly shut out of having an appropriate say in how and in what way healthcare should be administered to their loved ones. Baby Charlie and Baby Isaiah died while their parents looked helplessly on. If doctors and judges have their way, it seems that the same fate may be in store for Baby Alfie. 

In each case, the toddlers have all had willing parents who went to great lengths to find additional options for the wellbeing of their child.

In the case of Charlie Gard, over $1 million was raised to cover all necessary expenses for his safe travel to permit his rare disorder to be researched and managed by additional (perhaps more inclined) physicians. This clearly indicated that Charlie's parents had his best interests at heart, putting up the hard work and effort to collect all funds needed and cover all avenues necessary to allow the continued pursuit of a cure. 

But doctors and judges have not respected the parents' efforts. In Charlie Gard’s case, neither the hospital, nor the U.K. government would allow him to be moved. The same request has been denied to the parents of Isaiah Haarstrup and now Alfie Evans. 

Tom and Kate (Alfie’s Parents) have good reason to vehemently fight for the prolonging of treatment and research for their baby. One major reason is that his illness has still not yet been diagnosed. 

Image
Alfie Evans with a mustache.

Doctors apparently do not know what Alfie is sick with. No research is being pursued to discover it. Not making the effort to discover what is ailing Alfie only leaves medicine in the dark as to how to treat such an illness should it surface again in a different baby. 

Another more fundamental reason the parents have to fight for their child's life is that Alfie appears to be very much alive. Recent footage confirms this. He blinks. He yawns. He stretches and recoils. He responds to light shining in his eyes. He opens his eyes in response to his father's voice.  

Alternative options available to help extend little Alfie's life may be more cost-effective than his current level of care and more accommodating for both the hospital and the parents. For example, it could prove more cost-effective to remove Alfie from his life support machine and administer a tracheotomy, making Alife moveable again, and thus free up a hospital bed for another sick child. But Adler Hey Hospital refuses to perform this procedure.  

After witnessing the great measures these parents have taken to protect their children, including the money that has been raised, and the support their children have garnered from around the world,  to hear a judge rule that the parents did not have the best interest of their children at heart seems quite inaccurate. 

Little Alfie's next and final attempt at permission to remain on his life support machine is being considered by the highest legal courts for human rights cases in Europe, the European Court of Human Rights – located in France. A decision will be made soon as to whether Alfie will continue to live or join Charlie Gard and Isaiah Haarstrup.