Guest Editorial By SodaSaint
Today, 23-month-old Alfie Evans, son of Tom and Kate James of Liverpool, has seemingly lost his right to stay alive under the crushing weight of the UK’s National Health Service and the bureaucratic power structure of Alder Hey hospital.
Both parents have lost their separate appeals today in court.
From ABCNEWS
Britain’s Court of Appeal on Wednesday rejected a new bid by the parents of terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans to take him to Italy and continue his life support against the wishes of his doctors and judges.
Doctors say the 23-month-old boy suffers from a degenerative neurological condition that has left him in a “semi-vegetative state” with almost no brain function. Medics caring for him at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool have said further treatment is futile, and the toddler’s life support was withdrawn Monday after a series of court rulings sided with the doctors and blocked further medical treatment.
The Echo has a time line of events surrounding Alfie’s illness and his parents court battles with photos.
PDF original ruling from Mr. Justice Hayden dated February 20th 2018.
Why It Matters:
This is what happens when the state is given the power of controlling medicine: it no longer becomes a matter of meeting the criteria of the Hippocratic Oath or respecting the rights of the patient; it becomes about control and authority. As history so often shows, rarely do they ever back down. And today, in a move utterly devoid of morality, human decency, and compassion, Alfie Evans has been been condemned to die by governmental fiat, simply by the words of doctors or judges. His parents are told they cannot make decisions for their own child’s care, and according to the UK, his life is considered spent because they say it is spent.
Yet despite that, Alfie is fighting as hard as his little body can muster, even as he lays starving and struggling for breath in a hospital bed, authorities assuring that his parents cannot take him to potentially seek life-saving treatment in Italy. And why?
Control.
Alfie’s freedom would cause the NHS’ crippling grip on healthcare in the UK to collapse. Control must be maintained, even if it means the death of a child to avoid accountability.
The people of the UK are no longer citizens, but subjects under tyrants with a benevolent streak. I fear Alfie Evans will only be another of many victims.
Photo by SkyNews
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