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Alfie Evans

If, as seems to be the case, there is no hope of recovery then this poor child should be allowed to follow the course of nature, tragic as that may be for all concerned.
 
Lots of people that don't have kids don't feel the horror and sadness when they see stories like this. I say that because I didn't until I had kids. Then you've got psychopaths like Mescalito chiming in. As a parent, I don't get past the grief when reading about stuff like this. The money and politics just don't register at all.

My only contribution to this thread was to agree with Tony that if the child's brain effectively no longer exists, there is no point in keeping it's body functioning any more.

I have kids and I would probably react to the situation in the same way Alfie's parents have. Any parent would. That is why these decisions have to be left to the medical profession.

I am against capital punishment. But if someone murdered one of my children, I would want them dead. That is the reason victims of crime should not have any say in the criminal's sentence.

Tragic cases like AlfieEvans's and his parents wishes are analogous to the above

Chris
 
Given the circumstances I think it'd be very good for the parents for them to move on with their life and that won't happen until the let their poor son go. Having said that it's understandable that they don't want to, and will clutch at any straw that gives them a glimmer of hope etc.

I find the attempted intervention by the Italian government (with the Pope and the Catholic church behind it probably) deeply unhelpful though, especially as they're fueling the situation by giving the parents false hope of some kind of miracle.
 
I find the attempted intervention by the Italian government (with the Pope and the Catholic church behind it probably) deeply unhelpful though, especially as they're fueling the situation by giving the parents false hope of some kind of miracle.

Yes. that`s the worst aspect of the whole story.

Apart from the plight of Alfie himself of course.
 
My thoughts are that while I agree with Tony L to an extent, I base my opinion on if there is any actual further medical options for this little lad.

The situation is similar to the Charlie Gard one, but from what I gather, the difference being Charlie had other potential options out there, but they where blocked by the UK Doctors and the Judge, in their ignorance/arrogance (atypical in my experience of Doctors who have hit a wall in their textbook knowledge), multiple times. I haven't read anything to say there are further options, however experimental, for Alfie, so sadly, in this scenario, the ruling was probably correct.

I have zero respect for 'religion' which is merely a mental health disorder, so the Pope can do one.
 
My two penn’orth, which I have posted before whenever this problem crops up ( and this isn’t the first time).

In 2005 we were told to take my 5 year old daughter Home and make her comfortable. The NHS could do no more to treat her juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma ( brain tumour).

My wife, God bless her, refused to accept this and researched treatments available any where in the world.
The internet wasn’t what it is now.

Long story short we took our daughter to the US for a treatment unavailable in the UK.
A friend paid for the treatment. In NYU medical centre you don’t get through the door without pre payment. They do not take insurance cases.
Amazingly the NHS paid for it retrospectively.
We had our 15 minutes as national news.

My daughter is now 27, has 3 degrees and awaits a training contract to finally qualify as a solicitor.

I find Tony’s post borderline offensive.

The parents of this child merely want to try other alternatives elsewhere and are being prevented from doing so by medics who allow medical politics to overcome basic humanity.

They are not “bed blocking”, the arrogant bastards in charge won’t let them take their child elsewhere.
I don’t know enough about this case, as I suspect every poster on here, to make a judgement.
All I would counsel is take care, sometimes doctor doesn’t know best.

Bob, first of all thank you for sharing this. There are several occasions in my life where our family have had to fight against the odds in the face of prevailing opinion. I'm not intimately familiar with all the details of this case but like you, feel it is definitely their right to pursue an alternative course of treatment.

I had an interesting conversation with my father recently when I wanted to clarify his thoughts about what to do in the event of different scenarios. He's a fit 81 year old but these things can change and I wanted to get his take on quality of life and other factors to take in to account should we be faced with a complicated situation. He surprised me with his strong belief that life is precious and you fight for it at all costs. My mother by contrast was firmly in the camp of not keeping her alive at all costs, particularly if there was little chance of recovery.

Anyway, well done to you and your wife for meeting the challenge and fighting on against the odds.
 
I think the hospital should let the parents take him to Rome. The hospital say they can do no more for Alfie, then at least allow the family to exhaust their last bit of (faith based) hope.

I can only wonder at the mentality that can envision not supporting very premature babies-you are one fvcked up dude.
 
Lots of people that don't have kids don't feel the horror and sadness when they see stories like this. I say that because I didn't until I had kids. Then you've got psychopaths like Mescalito chiming in. As a parent, I don't get past the grief when reading about stuff like this. The money and politics just don't register at all.
I believe, given these rare circumstances, the parents should be allowed to exhaust all avenues, I think it's mainly down to peace of mind when grieving begins, they want to say, at least we tried everything, however futile, it can make the grieving process a little smoother, having regret added into the mix will only make matters worse.

The problem I have is when the Pope & religion get involved, if they are religious, then fine, faith can also help when grieving, but if they are not, this will just add to the misery when given false hope.
 
I believe, given these rare circumstances, the parents should be allowed to exhaust all avenues, I think it's mainly down to peace of mind when grieving begins, they want to say, at least we tried everything, however futile, it can make the grieving process a little smoother, having regret added into the mix will only make matters worse.

The problem I have is when the Pope & religion get involved, if they are religious, then fine, faith can also help when grieving, but if they are not, this will just add to the misery when given false hope.
Bob Mc's post makes it all the more reasonable, and correct, that every parent should not be expected to accept the opinion of the NHS as being the best one...so whether it is the pope or an expensive surgeon in a different country giving hope, then I'd probably follow the opinion that offered hope, too.
 
So they do put people down like dogs then?

No. Having worked in palliative care for longer than I care to remember including HIV(early 90's) and Oncology I can inform everyone that these drugs are only given if the patient is showing signs of distress and to make them comfortable.

The posts from Monkfish are offensive in the extreme.
 
No. Having worked in palliative care for longer than I care to remember including HIV(early 90's) and Oncology I can inform everyone that these drugs are only given if the patient is showing signs of distress and to make them comfortable.

The posts from Monkfish are offensive in the extreme.

My posts were in no way meant to be offensive, I stated the facts, nothing more, they intended to end his life with a cocktail of drugs.
 
My posts were in no way meant to be offensive, I stated the facts, nothing more, they intended to end his life with a cocktail of drugs.

Citation?

In this country we DO NOT euthanise patients. It is illegal.

If you believe a medical team in the full glare of the media, or not, would do this then you are very ill informed.
 
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I strongly suspect that these parents, rendered vulnerable by grief, are being exploited by a tabloid press, who have sold them false hope, to increase circulation and stir up a bit of anti-NHS sentiment.

It would be lovely if this story could have the same outcome as Bob's, but with half the child's brain already liquefied through atrophy, this seems very unlikely.
 


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