John R. Houk
© April 29, 2018
The British baby Alfie Evans passed away 2:30 AM 4/28/18
British time. You can mark his death and remember it as an atrocity to human
sensibilities. You’ll have to remember it because I can almost guarantee it
that media outlets on both the Left and Right will phase this out from
reporting significance. As far as the media is concerned, the dramatic story of
little Alfie has come to an end.
BUT the lessons that must be remembered as the moral of
the story is that a government in charge of socialized medicine will decide
your fate despite the compassion of affluent people, influential people and
compassionate foreign governments. When the government has absolute control of
life and death, your unalienable rights granted by the Creator are sure to be
violated to the point of murder.
Essentially little Alfie was murdered by the British
government that had allowed the construct of a socialized medical DEATH PANEL
decided Alfie was beyond saving to the point that panel refused to allow
compassion from outside the DEATH PANEL’s authority to have a shot. TWO DAYS
AFTER life support was forced to end, little Alfie died probably suffering
without life sustaining help.
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BREAKING: Alfie Evans has died
April 28, 2018 - 4:07 am EST
LIVERPOOL, England, April 28, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Alfie Evans died today in a Liverpool
children’s hospital at 2:30 a.m. local time.
Despite last-minute interventions, including the Italian
government’s gift of citizenship to the infant, the child died four days after
doctors at the Alder Hey NHS (National Health Service) Foundation ignored his
parents’ wishes and removed him from a ventilator.
His mother Kate James informed well-wishers of the boy’s
death by posting a message on the “Alfie’s Army Official” Facebook page.
“Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30 am,” the young
mother wrote. “We are heart broken. Thank you everyone for all your support.”
“My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at
02:30... absolutely heartbroken... I LOVE YOU MY GUY,” Thomas Evans said.
Alfie James Evans was a baptized Catholic, like his father.
His mother belongs to the Reformed tradition. If a baptized child before
the age of reason dies, he goes straight to heaven, according to Catholic
teaching.
“Baptized and under ‘the age of reason’, he does not need
our prayers,” tweeted Dr. Joseph Shaw, a Catholic ethicist at Oxford
University. “His family, and everyone else involved, do.”
In a statement issued on its website, Alder Hey Children’s
Hospital in Liverpool, England, said: “We wish to express our heartfelt
sympathy and condolences to Alfie’s family at this extremely distressing time.
All of us feel deeply for Alfie, Kate, Tom and his whole family and our
thoughts are with them. This has been a devastating journey for them and we
would ask that their privacy and the privacy of staff at Alder Hey is
respected.”
On Monday, Alfie’s father Thomas Evans posted a video on
Facebook saying that when the hospital staff removed Alfie’s ventilator at 9:17
p.m., he was able to breathe on his own. The toddler lived for more than four
days without the machine.
In the video, Evans said his son’s fingers were beginning to
turn blue and Alfie was losing color.
“Alfie’s sustained his life since 17 minutes past nine,”
Thomas Evans said. “He’s needing oxygen but the hospital won’t give him any.”
In the video, he said his son’s fingers were beginning to
turn blue and Alfie was losing color. However, after the parents gave the child
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the child began to breathe on his own. Later
Alfie was given oxygen.
Alfie’s aunt Sarah Evans posted a message on the “Alfie’s
Army Official” Facebook page soon before he died asking supporters for prayers.
“Our warrior is needing prayers and 100 deep breathes
sending to Alfie,” she wrote. “Inhale and exhale then do another 100 please.
Please pray for our warrior.”
Alfie would have turned two on May 9th. A video taken of him on the day of his
court-ordered death showed the toddler looking around the room, responsive and
alert.
[Blog Editor: Here is the video linked above:
Posted by LifeSiteNews
Published on Apr 23, 2018]
It is a tragic ending to a sad story that began shortly
after Alfie was born to his then-teenage parents. In July 2016, he was referred
to hospital for a “divergent squint” (one eye turning outwards). By the time he
was four months old, his mother noticed other troubling signs. Alfie’s smile
had become less frequent, he was sleeping too much, and he showed little
interest in interactions and playing with toys. By six months, he showed signs
of significant developmental delay. An MRI showed that his brain was not
developing properly.
Alfie was admitted to Alder Hey hospital’s emergency
department on December 14, 2016 after an episode of coughing, high temperature
and, according to a subsequent court decision, “rhythmic jerking of all four
limbs and his jaw.” The boy was diagnosed with acute viral bronchiolitis and
a possible prolonged febrile convulsion. He began to jerk again, and these
seizures worsened the next day. Alfie was then treated with Midazolam and then,
on the 16th, with Vigabatin instead. A doctor described him as “comatose” from
this time forward. On December 19, it was discovered that Alfie had a slow
breathing rate and apnea (pauses in breathing). Alfie went into cardiac arrest
and was given an oxygen mask.
He was admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, and
was later diagnosed with pneumonia. In January 2017, Alfie’s parents were
warned he might die. Nevertheless the boy recovered from pneumonia, albeit
without any improvement to the health of his brain. Doctors from Alder Hey and
additional doctors consulted by Alfie’s parents agreed that the child had a
fatal neurodegenerative disorder. It remained undiagnosed to the end.
When Alfie’s condition declined, the hospital began to
pressure his parents to remove him from life support.
They refused to give permission. Undeterred, the hospital
went to court to argue that ending treatment was in the child’s best interests.
On February 20, 2018, Mr. Justice Heydon of the UK Supreme Court ruled
that it was in Alfie’s “best interests” to discontinue treatment, to be removed
from his life support, and to receive palliative care at Alder Hey.
Alfie’s parents appealed the decision before the UK Court of
Appeal and the UK Supreme Court before pleading their case before the European
Court of Human Rights this March. The ECHR ruled that their appeal to take
their son elsewhere in the European Union was “inadmissible” and that the
child’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights were not being
violated. The court also refused to block Heydon’s decision that Alfie’s
doctors could remove the boy’s life support.
Alder Hey then applied to the High Court to set a date for
his treatment to end. Alfie’s parents responded with more appeals, all of which
were denied.
Pope Francis repeatedly spoke out in support of Alfie’s
parents, and an Italian priest, Fr. Gabriele Brusco, offered spiritual
help to the Evans family until he was recalled to London.
On Friday, April 20, the UK High Court denied Alfie’s parents’
final appeal that they be allowed to continue caring for their son and
ordered Alder Hey remove his life support on April 23.
For all LifeSite coverage of the Alfie Evans case,
click here.
____________________________
The Moral of Alfie’s Death
& Socialized DEATH PANELS
John R. Houk
© April 29, 2018
___________________________
BREAKING: Alfie Evans has
died
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