COURT RULES AGAINST PARENTS OF BOY SEEKING TREATMENT IN ITALY
Britain’s Court of Appeal ruled Monday against the parents of a terminally ill toddler who sought permission to take him to Italy for medical treatment.
The parents of 23-monthold Alfie Evans have been engaged in a protracted legal fight with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. They asked the Court of Appeal to overturn earlier rulings that blocked further medical treatment for their son.
Instead, justices upheld a lower court’s conclusion that flying Alfie to a hospital in Rome would be pointless.
Some protesters gathered outside the hospital in Liverpool wept at the news of the appeals court’s decision. Some chanted “Save Alfie Evans!”
Alfie is in a “semi-vegetative state” as the result of a degenerative neurological condition that doctors have been unable to definitively identify. Lower courts have ordered the boy’s life support to be withdrawn.