Little Alfie Evans is finally getting food. But officials at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital waited 28 hours before finally feeding the 23-month old boy, who is fighting a rare neurological condition.
It’s bad enough that Alfie is not being allowed to go home or to be transferred to a hospital in Italy that has promised to provide him appropriate care and treatment and possible experimental treatment. But the little boy also had to face the prospect of only getting water and fluids for well over a day after his life support was shut off without his parents consent.
Alfie’s Father Tom Evans confirmed this morning that his son is now 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.”
Evans says attorneys for his family will be fighting today to overturn a jduge’s decision preventing Alfie from going to Italy for proper care and treatment.
‘The court of appeal have reached out to us and said they are going to set back three judges to hear the case. In reality, he could be in Italy right now. We all know the military air force are ready to take him and a team of doctors are there,” he said. “We’ve also got a German air ambulance team, who attempted to take him in the first place, ready.”
Little Alfie Evans has survived for 36 hours after a children’s hospital yanked his life support without his parents’ consent. That’s despite the prediction doctors made that Alfie wouldn’t live very long after his life support was removed.
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Attorney Paul Diamond, who is representing the family of Alfie Evans, yesterday argued that it is not in Alfie’s best interests to be left at Alder Hey Hospital and that he should instead be flown overseas – with an air ambulance already waiting and Italy also offering him a private jet.
But 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.
Alfie’s parents have appealed that ruling to a British appeals court. Evans said they are appealing the ruling from the judge today banning Alfie from flying to Italy where a Pediatric Hospital has offered proper medical care and treatment as well as potential experimental treatment for his rare neurological condition.
Evans indicated that Alfie is not in any pain and hardly taking any drugs — and he disputed the claim that Alfie should not be able to travel to Italy because of potential seizures, saying that Alfie has not having any seizures and is not on any anti-seizure medication because there was no problem at this time.
Tom Evans also disputed the notion that somehow his family or supporters of his family are causing a disruption for Hospital staff that makes it so it would take three days to discharge Alfie from the hospital, as Alder Hey Children’s Hospital alleged in court today. He says the reality is that Alfie’s family and supporters are having a hard time getting into the hospital to see Alfie and support them because of an intense police presence, whereas hospital staff go in and out as they please.
Evans indicated he is very concerned about Alfie’s lack of food — saying that it has been almost 24 hours since he has had anything to eat and he is just receiving water and fluids. He is worried that hospital staff are attempting to starve Alfie to death in an attempt to prove their contention that Alfie was going to die very quickly after his removal from life support.
The judge in the controversial legal battle over the life and death of Alfie Evans has told the little boy’s parents that they are not able to take him home, for now. Essentially Justice Hayden considers Alfie’s parents a flight risk and worries they will leave the country with the 23-month old boy in tow. After a decision by Italy yesterday, Alfie now has Italian citizenship which should qualify him for being able to leave the country.
If Alfie can’t leave the UK, attorneys for his parents say they want Italian doctors to be able to come to Britain to evaluate and treat Alfie.
A spokeswoman for the Christian Legal Centre, which is assisting Tom Evans and Kate James, said they intended to ask the judge to consider allowing medical experts in Italy to examine Alfie.
She said medics at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool had stopped providing “ventilation support” to Alfie shortly after 9pm on Monday.
But she said Alfie continued to breathe independently.
She said: “Alfie has survived much longer than the doctors predicted, lending support to the request from Alfie’s parents for Alfie to be seen by medical experts in Italy
“An air ambulance is now waiting outside Alder Hey Hospital ready to take Alfie to hospital in Italy.”
An air ambulance arrived today outside the hospital where little Alfie Evans is located. Alfie has breathed on his own and has survived for over 20 hours after the Children’s Hospital yanked his life support.
Alfie has defied doctors’ expectations to this point and his parents are headed back to court to fight for his life further. They are hoping to be able to get life support restored and also want to be able to take him to Italy, which granted him citizenship yesterday.
Today, 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 have. 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.
Alfie’s father confirmed the removal of life support and oxygen in a video at 9:17 p.m. London time. “Alfie’s still here and fighting,” he said.
Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken on Alfie’s behalf and urged that Alfie’s parents be allowed to bring him to Italy.
