{"id":11268,"date":"2018-04-28T06:49:24","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T10:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=11268"},"modified":"2018-04-28T06:55:53","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T10:55:53","slug":"alfie-evans-legal-battle-toddler-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2018\/04\/28\/alfie-evans-legal-battle-toddler-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Alfie Evans: Legal battle toddler dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old toddler at the centre of a High Court legal battle, has died, nearly a week after his life support was withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>The boy from Merseyside, who had a degenerative brain condition, died at 02:30 BST, his father Tom Evans said.<\/p>\n<p>On Facebook he wrote: &#8220;My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings&#8230; absolutely heartbroken.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Alfie&#8217;s parents lost all legal challenges to\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-merseyside-43133434\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a court ruling<\/a>\u00a0allowing the hospital to withdraw ventilation.<\/p>\n<p>The boy had\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-merseyside-43876559\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his life support withdrawn on Monday<\/a>\u00a0after being in a semi-vegetative state for more than a year.<\/p>\n<p>The legal campaign, launched by Mr Evans and Alfie&#8217;s mother Kate James, attracted widespread attention and saw them clash with doctors over the child&#8217;s treatment.<\/p>\n<p>A statement from Alder Hey Children&#8217;s Hospital in Liverpool, where Alfie was treated, said staff expressed their &#8220;heartfelt sympathy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom and his whole family and our thoughts are with them. This has been a devastating journey for them,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p>It asked those wishing to leave tributes to Alfie to place them at the nearby Springfield Park.<\/p>\n<div class=\"social-embed\">\n<div class=\"social-embed-post social-embed-facebook\">\n<div class=\"embed embed-facebook\">\n<div class=\"embed-region facebook-wrap\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Facebook post by Thomas\">\n<div class=\"fb-post fb_iframe_widget\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thomas.leenew.7\/posts\/860464134141901\" data-width=\"552\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"fb:post Facebook Social Plugin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/v2.3\/plugins\/post.php?app_id=&amp;channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2Fr%2F2VRzCA39w_9.js%3Fversion%3D42%23cb%3Df3520395f7ad8b4%26domain%3Dwww.bbc.co.uk%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.bbc.co.uk%252Ff347d6a4c7bf37c%26relation%3Dparent.parent&amp;container_width=550&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fthomas.leenew.7%2Fposts%2F860464134141901&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;sdk=joey&amp;width=552\" name=\"f22ac4087b7bd14\" width=\"552px\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Alfie, who was born in May 2016, was first admitted to the hospital the following December after suffering seizures, and had been a patient ever since.<\/p>\n<p>His parents, who live in Bootle, wanted to fly the toddler to an Italian hospital, but this was rejected by doctors who said continuing treatment was &#8220;not in Alfie&#8217;s best interests&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/E86D\/production\/_101010595_alfieevans2.jpg\" alt=\"Alfie Evans\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" data-highest-encountered-width=\"624\" \/><\/span><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Alder Hey Hospital said scans showed &#8220;catastrophic degradation of his brain tissue&#8221; and that further treatment was not only &#8220;futile&#8221; but also &#8220;unkind and inhumane&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The couple heavily criticised medical staff, with Mr Evans suggesting his son was a &#8220;prisoner&#8221; at the hospital and had been misdiagnosed.<\/p>\n<p>Hospital bosses were backed by the High Court, which ruled in their favour on 20 February, after accepting medical evidence that there was &#8220;no hope&#8221; for the youngster.<\/p>\n<p>In a four-month legal battle, Alfie&#8217;s parents unsuccessfully contested the ruling at the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).<\/p>\n<p>The case drew international support including from Pope Francis, who asked that &#8220;their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in April, Mr Evans\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-merseyside-43807453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pleaded with him to &#8220;save our son&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0during a meeting in Rome.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-merseyside-43872678\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alfie was granted Italian citizenship on Monday,<\/a>\u00a0with the country&#8217;s government saying it hoped the toddler could have an &#8220;immediate transfer to Italy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>However, two days later the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling preventing the toddler from travelling abroad after life support was withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of Alfie&#8217;s parents protested outside the hospital, prompting its bosses to defend staff who they said had endured a &#8220;barrage&#8221; of abuse.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, a group of protesters tried to get into the hospital after the ECHR refused to intervene.<\/p>\n<p>Merseyside Police is investigating claims patients and staff had been intimidated.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday,\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-merseyside-43914259\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mr Evans thanked supporters,<\/a>\u00a0known as Alfie&#8217;s Army, but asked them &#8220;to go home&#8221; so the parents could build a relationship with the hospital to provide the toddler &#8220;with the dignity and comfort he needs&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-43933056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old toddler at the centre of a High Court legal battle, has died, nearly a week after his life support was withdrawn. The boy from Merseyside, who had a degenerative brain condition, <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2018\/04\/28\/alfie-evans-legal-battle-toddler-dies\/\" title=\"Alfie Evans: Legal battle toddler dies\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,109,2,4],"tags":[5069,5068],"class_list":{"0":"post-11268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"category-headline","9":"category-news","10":"category-uk","11":"tag-alder-hey","12":"tag-alfie-evans","13":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11268"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11270,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268\/revisions\/11270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}