Father’s anguish at hearing over son
Scans show damage to brain ‘has worsened’
COURT: The father of a seriously ill 20-month-old boy broke down in tears as a court was told that further hospital treatment is “futile”.
Tom Evans covered his face and howled in anguish at the hearing to decide if life support should be withdrawn from his son, Alfie. The 20-year-old was comforted by his family.
THE FATHER of a seriously ill 20-month-old boy broke down in tears as a court was told that further hospital treatment is “futile”.
Tom Evans covered his face and howled in anguish at the hearing to decide if life support should be withdrawn from his son, Alfie. The 20-year-old was comforted by his parents and sisters and there was a short adjournment before the hearing recommenced at the High Court in Liverpool.
Lawyers acting for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool argue that further treatment for Alfie is unkind and inhumane.
The child, born on May 9, 2016, is in a “semi-vegetative state” and has a degenerative neurological condition doctors have not definitively diagnosed.
Despite mediation between the parents and hospital specialists caring for Alfie, his parents, Mr Evans and Kate James, want him to undergo further treatment and operations for his condition.
They believe their son responds to them – but the court heard that any movements by the child are spontaneous seizures as a result of touching.
Michael Mylonas QC, representing the hospital, said: “One of the problems of this case is they look at him and, barring the paraphernalia of breathing and feeding, he’s a sweet, lovely, normallooking boy who opens his eyes, will smile...”
At this point, Mr Evans, sitting alongside the lawyer, broke down, sobbing into his hands before a break to proceedings was called by Mr Justice Anthony Hayden, hearing the case.
Mr Justice Hayden, who told the court he himself had had the “privilege” of visiting Alfie in hospital, said: “Everybody in this court shares the same objectives, everybody wants the best for Alfie.”
Mr Mylonas, outlining the case for the hospital, said scans of Alfie had shown “catastrophic degradation of his brain tissue” which was getting worse.
The youngster was now only able to breathe through intervention by medical equipment and Alfie was also regularly having fits, often triggered by touching.
He said that, at the request of the parents, three medical experts from the Vatican-linked Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome had visited Alfie in Alder Hey.
Unfortunately they had reached the same conclusions in terms of the “complete futility” of trying to find a cure or alleviating his seizures and they could not provide any other treatment.
Mr Justice Hayden said the parents, who have changed their lawyers seven times, are trying to “leave no stone unturned” and explore every possible avenue.
Professor Helen Cross told the court that EEG results, which measures electrical activity in the brain, showed Alfie only displayed electrical brain activity when he was having seizures – there was no other brain activity.
The hearing will continue today.