Sources close to the family of Alfie Evans are refuting a story that appeared in an Italian newspaper claiming that Alfie was given four unknown drugs just two hours before he died.
Caroline Farrow, a British journalist and broadcaster who has been working closely with administrators of the Alfie Army website, informed LifeNews today that the Italian newspaper article is incorrect. Not only is the article inaccurate but administrators of Facebook page to support Alfie and his family say the claims in the article are causing more stress for Alfie’s family just days after he passed away.
If true, the article would point to even more serious concerns about Alder Hey Children’s Hospital than have already been established. The Italian newspaper article essentially accused a nurse at the hospital of potentially killing Alfie by giving him unknown drugs at a time when Alfie’s father Tom was not in the room and his mother Kate was asleep.
Despite the apparent inaccuracies with the Italian newspaper article, there has begun to be a call among supporters of Alfie and his family for an investigation and a full autopsy report. Given that Alfie was indeed starved longer than 24 hours and given that Alfie did not have oxygen for several crucial hours after his life support was removed — both of which could have contributed to his death — an investigation and autopsy appear to be warranted. Those appear to be appropriate if only because of the international controversy surrounding his final days and ultimate death on Saturday morning.
The apparently false report in the Italian newspaper claims that a nurse gave Alfie Evans four unidentified drugs just two hours before his death. The newspaper indicates Alfie’s vital signs were strong in the hours before his death but that the nurse gave him four drugs while his father Tom was out of the room and his mother Kate was half asleep. Another family member was in the room at the time.
There was no indication in the reportas to what the drugs supposedly were but it claimed Alfie’s vital signs began to diminish just 30 minutes after the drugs were administered. As La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana claimed (translated from Italian):
Two hours before dying the oxygen saturation was about 98 and Alfie’s beats were about 160, so much so that Thomas was convinced that they would let him go home soon (as the hospital administration told him on Friday afternoon) . Before dying, while Thomas had gone out for a moment, leaving Kate half-awake and another family member in the room, a nurse entered and explained that he would give the baby four drugs (no one knows what) to treat him. After about 30 minutes the saturation dropped to 15. Two hours later Alfie was dead.
The report also indicates that Alfie immediately contracted “a lung infection” after life support was removed and that Alfie’s father requested but was denied antibiotics to combat that. It also alleges that the breathing tubes were yanked in a way that caused damage or stress to Alfie’s body.
But those claims appear to be unfounded.
As Farrow informed LifeNews, an Alfie’s Army administrator told her that the Italian article is “untrue.”
“The admin Flo, who runs @Alfiesarmy16 messaged me this morning. However the Italian site is still running it & has now translated it into an English version,” Farrow indicated.
The Alfie’s Army administrator, Flo Hoy told Farrow: “Caroline, that article is causing great distress and is untrue.”
Alfies aunt Sarah Evans also posted on the Alfie Army Facebook page urging Alfie supporters to not believe false rumors, though which rumors she was addressing are unclear.
“I have been asked to mentioned on behalf of Tom and Kate one is that there are nasty rumours going about that are not true and we ask that you don’t listen to them,” she posted on their behalf.
What is definitely known is that Alder Hey Children’s Hospital waited 28 hours before finally feeding the 23-month old boy. Alfie’s Father Tom Evans confirmed at the time that his son was finally being fed after over 24 hours but he condemned hospital officials for waiting so long to finally get him the nutrition he needs.
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“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.”
Alfie went without oxygen for 9 hours after life support was removed.
Also what is publicly known is that 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.
Since Alfie’s death, a leading Catholic cardinal is among those defending the courts and hospitals. Britain’s leading Catholic official has praised the staff of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for how it treated Alfie Evans even though it fought to yank his life support over his parents’ consent and withheld food and water for over 24 hours after it won a court order to remove the life support. This is the same hospital that was once embroiled in a controversy surrounding the selling of children’s organs after surgery.
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.
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Alfie Evans ended up dying very early 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 have 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 experiemental 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.
