No Autopsy Will be Done on Alfie Evans Before He’s Buried Despite Controversy Surrounding His Death

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 11, 2018   |   3:25PM   |   London, England

The final days and weeks of the life of Alfie Evans were an international spectacle. As his parents battled with a children’s hospital and court system intent on revoking his life support and ending his life, their fight to save Alfie became an international news event.

As Alfie’s parents announced this week, a private funeral will be held next week for their son.

But amazingly, despite all of the international hoopla, attention, and controversy surrounding his death, there will be no investigation or autopsy it appears. Although supporters of Alfie Evans and his family expected an autopsy immediately after his death, it appears there will be no autopsy — according to multiple sources LifeNews has spoken with. And, strangely, there have been absolutely no mainstream media news stories even about the possibility of an autopsy or investigation following Alfie’s death. Nothing was mentioned in the British media — who have covered the case extensively — in their reports on the upcoming funeral.

It appears there will be no autopsy even though Alfie was denied food and water for over 24 hours. There will be no autopsy even though Alfie was deprived of oxygen during the first hours following the removal of his life support without his parents’ consent. There will be no autopsy even though Alfie was not provided proper care and treatment in his final days and not given a chance to have experimental treatment to improve his alleged degenerative neurological condition. There will be no autopsy even though doctors still are unsure what caused Alfie’s condition in the first place. And there will be no autopsy even as rumors swirl around the Internet about Alfie’s final minutes of life and whether or not staff at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital prematurely ended his life following a week of successfully breathing on his own.

The lack of any autopsy or investigation is bizarre and will certainly lead to speculation from supporters of Alfie and his family that both the British government and court system as well as the British medical system either wanted Alfie dead or wanted to cover up what they did that resulted in ending his life.

And the lack of any public desire on the part of Alfie’s parents to push for an autopsy or investigation is equally interesting. Some supporters of Alfie and his family suggested that the British government our medical system coerced them into backing down from their legal battle and fight to have him transferred elsewhere. The statement that Alfie’s father Tom gave to the media saying that they would be working to build a bridge with Alder Hey officials continues to baffle some observers of the situation — because it was an abrupt change of course from the determined and unshakable attitude he had shown, with an indefatigable willingness to fight on behalf of Alfie. Some observers have pointed out the irony that Alfie died shortly after his parents recanted of their legal battle and appeared to yield to the wishes of the British government and medical system.

Although there is ample evidence and reason for an autopsy or investigation, it appears there will be none. and observers around the world will be left to wonder weather Alfie died naturally or whether his death was accelerated more than is already publicly known.

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Ironically, the only investigation may be of Alfie’s supporters. The British government appears to be investigating the Christian organization that helped them — in what could be a political retribution for helping Alfie’s parents protect their son.

As LifeNews reported previously, Justice Hayden came under fire for comments he made about a representative of a  Christian legal group whose attorneys helped represent Alfie’s family. In the courtroom he slammed the group calling one law student who was assisting the family “deluded and fanatical.”

The group responded, saying “We reject the prejudicial and inflammatory comments made by Mr Justice Hayden.”

Meanwhile, as LifeNews reported, British prime minister Theresa May defended the hospital. She argued that medical experts ought to be the ones to make decisions in such cases as opposed to parents and family.

But Terri Schiavo’s brother Bobby Schindler disagrees and told LifeNews that courts should never have prevented Afie’s parents from caring for their son, who ultimately died on Saturday less than a week after doctors yanked his life support without their consent.

The head of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network told LifeNews: “Like Tom and Kate Evans, I know how terrible it is to be powerless to care for a loved one, but I cannot imagine the unique tragedy of being prevented from caring for a child in the way that the United Kingdom and European Courts barred them from exercising what so many recognize as their basic parental rights to provide care.”

“We will honor Alfie’s memory,” concluded Schindler, “and we will do whatever we can to affirm the value of every life, regardless of condition and the right of every parent to care for their children in a life-affirming way.”

Carol Tobias, the president of the National Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews that people need to be very clear about what happened with Alfie. She says he was “sentenced to death” by courts and doctors. She says what happened to Alfie and his parents needs to never happen to get to any other child or patient.

The pro-life leader placed the blame for his death squarely on judges and hospital officials who claimed Alfie was too far gone to save.

“Let’s be clear: Alfie Evans was sentenced to death by Britain’s National Health System and the High Court. Their intransigent commitment to the country’s faulty single-payer health system led them to conclude it was better for Alfie to die than leave the country and receive potentially life-saving treatment elsewhere,” Tobias said.

Alfie Evans ended up dying very early on a Saturday morning after the children’s hospital that was supposed to provide him with appropriate medical care and treatment disconnected his life support without his parents’ permission. That action came after a long and extensive legal battle between Alfie’s parents and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, with the British court system agreeing with doctors by saying that Alfie was supposedly too far gone for additional care and treatment or experimental medical treatment to possibly help his neurological condition.

Alfie supposedly suffered from a degenerative neurological condition and administrators at Alder Hey, which is a National Health System Foundation Trust, sought, and received, approval from the High Court to discontinue treatment in direct opposition to the wishes of Alfie’s parents. The High Court’s decision was met with outcry around the world, and was condemned by world leaders including European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, Polish president Andrezej Duda, and Pope Francis.

Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome offered to treat Alfie and he was granted Italian citizenship to expedite his transport to Italy. However, the High Court prohibited Evans and James from removing their son from Alder Hey.

Alfie’s father Tom Evans spent the last 10 minutes of the 23-month-old little boys life desperately trying to revive him with mouth to mouth.

Meanwhile, Alfie’s mother Kate has posted a poem remembering Alfie that has already been shared thousands of times on Facebook.

In posts on Facebook, Alfie’s mother and father confirmed his passing.

“Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30 am. We are heart broken. Thank you everyone for all your support,” she wrote.

“My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30 absolutely heartbroken,” the boy’s father Tom Evans wrote on Facebook.

Family friend Laura McKenzie said: “Tom and Kate really appreciate everyone coming and showing their love.

“The whole world showed how much Alfie was loved and we’ll never, ever, ever forget him or his name. No one will.”

After his death, family and supporters of Alfie Evans celebrated his life in pictures and hundreds of tearful supporters of Alfie Evans and his family gathered at a park near Alder Hey Children’s Hospital to release balloons to honor the little boy after his death. And Pope Francis expressed the kind of sentiments that people around the world are expressing. He talked about his sadness and he talked about Alfie being embraced by the Lord in heaven.

“I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace,” the pope tweeted on Saturday.

The legal battle sparked anger nationwide in England but also internationally as people stood up for Alfie’s parents and strongly opposed courts and hospitals making life and death decisions for patients over their families objections.

There is concern that the hospital contributed to his death.

As LifeNews reported, after removing his life support without permission, officials at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital waited 28 hours before finally feeding the 23-month old boy, who was fighting a rare neurological condition. Alfie’s Father Tom Evans confirmed at the time that his son was finally being fed but he condemned hospital officials for waiting so long to finally get him the nutrition he needs.

“They only started feeding him at one ‘o’clock yesterday. It’s disgusting how he’s being treated,” Evans said. “Not even an animal would be treated like this. He’s proving them wrong. It’s time to give him some grace and dignity and let him go home or to Italy.”

The other day, Alfie’s parents changed course and decided to end their battle.

Alfie Evans’ father Tom Evans called for supporters of Alfie and his family to “stand down” so they can begin “building a bridge” with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and its staff.  The statement from Alfie’s father was surprising given the animosity that had developed between the Evans family and the hospital. Hospital officials had spent months in court preventing Alfie’s family from taking him to a hospital in Italy or even taking him home. Hospital officials even went as far as misleading courts by saying that they never said Alfie would die quickly after his life support was removed — even though they initially said Alfie would die within minutes after yanking his life support over his parents’ objections.

But perhaps seeing that there was little opportunity left to fight for Alfie’s rights and their right to take him abroad or take him home or sensing a need to appease the hospital to bring him home, Tom Evans struck a conciliatory tone.

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Later, the family of Alfie Evans blasted a false news report saying his parents are supposedly preparing for his death.

Alfie’s parents had hoped to take the little boy to the hospital in order to potentially get experimental treatment that could help his rare degenerative neurological condition but courts repeatedly denied that. Justice Hayden ruled that Alfie’s family would not be able to fly him to Italy for treatment and appeared to say that this was the final decision related to his case. He said flying Alfie to Italy could harm his health because, as court testimony indicated, the flight could trigger possible “continuous seizures due to stimulations” of the flight. But Alfie’s parents are concerned Alfie will die if he doesn’t get care and possible experimental treatment in Italy.

A British doctors group, The Medical Ethics Alliance, expressed its horror over the treatment of Alfie Evans that it called a “medical tyranny.”

And Italy’s Healthcare Chief has slammed the decisions by UK courts to treat Alfie the way that they had. The President of the Italian National Institute of Health lambasted the UK High Court’s decision yesterday on Alfie Evans’ that resulted it the children’s hospital being allowed to remove life support over Alfie’s parents’ objections.

Pope Francis repeatedly spoken on Alfie’s behalf and urged that Alfie’s parents be allowed to bring him to Italy.

Members of Parliament are leading a new campaign for a law to prevent the tragic situation happening to Alfie Evans and his parents from happening to any other family. The new campaign calls on MPs to debate the matter in the House of Commons – with potential plans for “Alfie’s Law.”

Alfie Evans is not the first little boy to be held hostage by the court system and the healthcare system. There have been many other cases where courts and doctors have made the life or death decisions for a patient over the objections of their family.

One of those cases involved a little boy named Charlie Gard. In essentially the exact same circumstance, the British courts decided that his parents did not have the right to make the decision whether his life support was disconnected and a hospital yanked his life support without their consent. Charlie ultimately died not long after that happened.  Chris Gard and Connie Yates’ little boy passed away just before 1st birthday in July 2017.