British MP Proposes “Alfie’s Law” to Restore Parental Rights in Medical Situations

 "It’s time for Alfie’s Law”

By Cassy Fiano
Live Action News

The world watched in horror as Charlie Gard’s parents had their ability to make medical decisions forcibly taken away from them at the hands of the British government. Charlie was initially diagnosed with a rare RRM2B mitochondrial depletion syndrome, and his parents raised over $1.5 million for his care, hoping to take him to the United States to receive experimental treatment. 

This set off multiple court battles, as the Great Ormond Street Hospital and the British government repeatedly refused to allow them to seek care outside of the country. Charlie’s life support was ultimately removed, against his parents’ will, and he died last year.

Then the same situation happened again, this time with Alfie Evans. Unlike Charlie, Alfie still does not have a definitive diagnosis, but because his condition seems unlikely to improve — meaning that Alfie will be severely disabled for his entire life, if he does not die soon — staff at Alder Hey Hospital, along with the British government, seemingly want him dead. Alfie’s parents want to take their son to Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome, where doctors are willing to treat Alfie with palliative care, and they also had air ambulance companies standing by to safely transport him. 

But it did not matter; Alfie’s parents lost appeal after appeal as judges ruled that there was no point in allowing Alife to continue living. Alfie’s life support was removed, but he has not died quickly as expected; instead, he’s been breathing independently for several days now. Astonishingly, hospital staff cruelly refused Alfie oxygen, food, and water for well over 24 hours, perhaps in the expectation that the toddler would not survive long.

Alfie’s case has, like Charlie’s, sparked international outrage. Now, a British MP is stepping in with a new proposal, which he calls “Alfie’s Law,” to ensure that no family has to go through such a horrific situation again.

MP Steve Woolfe announced his plan on Facebook, citing Alfie and Charlie’s cases, along with a boy named Aysha King, whose parents took him to the Czech Republic for proton beam therapy, and were “hunted across Europe” for it. Ashya is now in remission.

Woolfe launched his campaign outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for parents to have their right to make medical decisions for their children restored in the United Kingdom. 

“The cases of Charlie Gard, Aysha King, and now Alfie Evans, show a dangerous trend of public bodies depriving parents and families of the right to make decisions they believe are in the best interests of their children,” he said during a press conference. 

“Parents’ rights should neither be ignored nor dismissed as irrelevant by hospitals and courts, who believe they know best and have the power, money and resources to overwhelm families who simply want to save their child.”

“We demand a change in the law to restore the rights of parents in such decisions. All parents should be allowed an independent advocate to defend their case with the right legal and medical expertise and financial equality of arms,” he continued. “Now is the time to act. We cannot have another baby, another family, have to go through the struggle and torment the Evans family have. It’s time for Alfie’s Law.”

Website: Live Action News

 

Note: Alfie Evans passed from this life on 4/28/18. Please pray for his family and for a change in the laws in the not-so-great Britain.

Hospital Removes Alfie Evans’ Life Support Over His Parents’ Objections

By Dave Andrusko
Life News

According to supporters of Alfie Evans and his parents, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital reportedly went ahead and removed Alfie’s life support over their objections.

The decision by the Children’s Hospital to remove Alfie Evans’ life support reportedly came after an emergency meeting between attorneys for Alfie’s parents, an Italian government representative, lawyers for the children’s hospital and the judge who allowed the hospital to proceed previously. As supporters of Alfie told LifeNews, Justice Hayden was unpersuaded by a late move from Italy to declare Alfie a citizen. He went ahead and allowed the Children’s Hospital to remove Alfie’s life support anyway.

As Liverpool Echo reports:

A High Court judge has dismissed a “last-ditch appeal” by the parents of Alfie Evans – the 23-month-old boy who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment fight.

Mr Justice Hayden had said doctors at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool could stop providing life-support treatment to Alfie.

Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, who are both in their early 20s and from Liverpool, asked for a delay to give them time to mount a further challenge.

But the judge has refused their application and given doctors the go-ahead to stop treatment and bring Alfie’s life to an end.

Alfie’s father confirmed the removal of life support and oxygen in a video at 9:17 p.m. London time. “Alfie’s still here and fighting,” he said.

In the video, Alfie’s parents are shown in his room at this moment wondering if Alfie will pass away before he was given proper medical care and treatment and a chance to try experimental treatment to possibly deal with the adverse effects of the degenerative neurological condition he is facing.

Earlier in the day, Italy granted citizenship to Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old little boy whose hospital is threatening to revoke his life support without his parents’ consent.

Italy’s decision would have made it so Alfie’s parents could theoretically bring him to a hospital in Rome that has offered to provide appropriate medical care and treatment and to look at experimental treatments that could help his degenerative neurological condition. However, British courts have prevented Alfie’s parents from taking him there and a European Court of human rights has refused to intervene.

As ANSA reported:

Italy on Monday gave Italian citizenship to terminally ill British toddler Alfie Evans so that he can hopefully be “immediately” moved to Italy from Liverpool, where doctors are set to pull the plug on him, the foreign ministry said. “Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano and Interior Minister Marco Minniti have granted citizenship to little Alfie,” the ministry said.

“In this way the Italian government hopes that being an Italian citizen will enable the immediate transfer of the child to Italy”.

Alfie’s father Thomas Evans confirmed on a Facebook post that his son had received Italian citizenship.

“Alfie has been granted Italian citizenship, we await for the foreign minister to call Borris Johnson. Alfie belongs to Italy,” he wrote.

Pavel Strolilov of Christian Legal, who is representing Alfie’s parents, says the Italian ambassador has contacted the UK court on behalf of Alfie. According to Evans, the family’s attorneys will participate in a conference call with Justice Hayden, the Italian ambassador, and Alder Hey Children’s hospital officials to determine if Alfie can leave the country now that he is an Italian citizen. But it now appears the meeting was unsuccessful.

Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken on Alfie’s behalf and urged this afternoon that Alfie’s parents be allowed to bring him to Italy.

The move comes after the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene to save the 23-month-old boy from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, which is yanking his life support without his parents’ consent. 

Life News report continues here

Blogger's note:

Where do British courts get the authority to supplant parental God-given rights?  Euthanasia has become lawful in many nations. Voices for the Unborn have published numerous articles of patients with dementia and mental illness have been euthanized.  When government becomes the sole arbiter of vulnerable human life, the odious spectre of the elitist mentalitly is laid bare for all to see. 

U.S. Warned: U.N. Could Spur Charlie Gard Death Cases in America

By Michael Haverluck
One News Now

Right before the tragic death of 11-month-old Charlie Gard in a United Kingdom hospice Friday, a sober warning was issued to President Donald Trump by a group of parental rights legal experts – alerting him that United Nations policies could soon sway court rulings in the United States … effectively sentencing terminally ill children to an early death.

The day after a U.K. judge made the final ruling that Charlie Gard was to be moved to a hospice to live his last day(s) – rejecting his parents’ request to let him spend the last days of his life with them at home – he died.

“The decision came after a hospital – and the courts all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights – decided Charlie would be better off dead,” WND reported.

 “His parents gave up their court fight to move him to America for an experimental treatment this week when they were told that the time used by the hospital’s court fight – many months – consumed all of the time during which the treatment might have helped their son.”

Parents and President Beware

After examining at the rationale and influence behind the tragic decision, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is pleading with Trump to break America free from the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, as the Christian legal experts on parental rights warned that the such legislation strips away the ability of parents to decide what is best for their children – essentially handing it over to the government.

“The Charlie Gard situation highlights the stark difference between our national values and those of internationalists who believe that government bureaucrats and the courts should decide how children should be raised – and even whether a life is worth living,” HSLDA attorneys explained in their letter to the White House, noting that the Clinton administration signed the convention, but Senate never signed it. 

“[The international strategy] elevates government bureaucrats over parents in deciding what is in a child’s ‘best interests.’ It is this same standard that has enabled bureaucrats and courts in the United Kingdom to overrule the wishes of Charlie Gard’s own parents.”

HSLDA is fearful that the U.N. convention will not only have the effect of stripping away America’s sovereignty as a nation, but undermine parental rights in numerous areas – including a parent’s right to teach his or her own children.

One New Now continues