Alfie Evans UPDATE: High Court rules ill baby cannot go to Italy
The 23-month-old toddler will instead go back to home with his mother and father after spending more than a year at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. Mr Justice Hayden who presided over the emergency hearing held today in the Family Divisions of the High Court in Manchester stressed little Alfie has reached his “final chapter” after a valiant struggle. The judge said the young tot found himself at the centre of a life support battle which he fought like a “warrior”, but the fight was now over. The judge further rejected claims by Tom Evans, 21, his son was feeling “significantly better” than initially though after staff turned off Alfie’s life support machines on Monday evening.
Instead the judge told the boy’s parents they were to look into to other options of taking their child fro intensive care to another ward, hospice or his family home. The ruling concludes several months of embittered legal clashes between Alfie’s prints and the High Court and Supreme Court. Alfie, who suffers a rare and undiagnosed degenerative neurological disorder, has been hooked to ventilators since December 2016. He has since been bedridden in Alder Hey hospital where his parents have been fighting the decision to take him off his life support machines.
EXPRESS Alfie Evans UPDATE: The High Court has ruled Alfie cannot go to Italy
Doctors involved in Alfie’s case have argued the baby had suffered irreparable brain damage and prolonging his treatment was cruel and “inhumane”. Today Mr Justice Hyde ruled out the parents’ wish to take their son to the to the Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome, following interventions from the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Pope himself. Paul Diamond, from the Christian Legal Centre representing the parents, suggested during the three-hour hearing the High Court changes its position on allowing Alfie to leave the country. But in his ruling, Mr Justice Hayden said: "With little, indeed no hesitation, I reject that.
Alfie Evans in pictures: Heartbreaking photos of Alfie in hospital Tue, April 24, 2018 Alfie has a degenerative neurological condition which has not been definitively diagnosed after being born in a "semi-vegetative" state. Play slideshow Facebook 1 of 12 Alfie Evans pictured in hospital with his mother
"The brain cannot regenerate itself and there is virtually nothing of his brain left. "There is, in truth, with great respect to the efforts of Mr Diamond, no substance to this application, which represents, at least within the court process, the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy." However a doctor who has treated Alfie, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said moving the boy back home might not be the best solution to the problem at hand. The doctor moving Alfie to his home would require a “se change” in attitude form the boy’s family, stressing they feared a “worst case scenario” where the parents might still take their son abroad.
PA Alfie Evans update: The abby's parents hoped to take their son to Rome for treatment