Alfie Evans: Toddler granted Italian citizenship, parents hope to take him to Rome
Update: Alfie Evans has been granted Italian citizenship, it was reported on Monday.
This is good news for his parents, as they hope to take him to a hospital in Rome for treatment.
"In this way, the Italian government hopes that being an Italian citizen allows the child immediate transfer to Italy," the Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Meanwhile, antsy protesters supporting Tom Evans and Kate James, the parents of 23-month-old Alfie Evans, are trying to storm into the children's hospital in Liverpool where the toddler lies as he remains the focus of a life-support treatment battle. The protesters decided to make the bold move after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) chose not to intervene in the case.
The parents, who are both in their early 20s, appealed to the ECHR after they failed to convince the Supreme Court justices to consider their son's case on April 20.
The couple are in the middle of a fight with their doctors. The parents want to take their son to Rome for treatment but the doctors in the UK have argued saying that the life support that Alfie, who suffers from a rare degenerative brain disease, is on should be taken away.
Almost 200 supporters gathered outside the Alder Hey hospital on April 23 afternoon and the police had to rush to block the doors as more than a dozen protesters tried to enter the building. The protesters then blocked the road temporarily while chanting: "Save Alfie Evans."
A spokesperson for the ECHR said: "The European court of human rights has rejected the application submitted by the family of Alfie Evans as inadmissible."
Alfie's parents have lost the cases that took place in the high court, court of appeal, Supreme Court, and the European Court of Human Rights. All the judges have concluded that the child is in a semi-vegetative state and that any further treatment would be pointless.
Three supreme court justices were in agreement with the toddler's doctors on April 20 saying that "there is no hope of him getting better".
In a statement issued by the judges, they said that there was no reason to delay pulling the plug on the life support and added: "The hospital must be free to do what has been determined to be in Alfie’s best interests.
"Alfie looks like a normal baby, but the unanimous opinion of the doctors who have examined him and the scans of his brain is that almost all of his brain has been destroyed.
"No one knows why. But that it has happened and is continuing to happen cannot be denied. It means that Alfie cannot breathe, or eat, or drink without sophisticated medical treatment. It also means that there is no hope of his ever getting better."
The little boy has been gravely ill since he had a seizure two years ago in December 2016. Thomas Evans replied to the ruling on Facebook saying that his son was not suffering and that he wasn't in any pain.
He also livestreamed from the hospital after the ECHR gave its ruling on Monday and you can hear people shouting their support and praise for the parents in the background.