Alfie supposedly has a degenerative neurological condition but that diagnosis is being challenged now that Alfie is breathing on his own without life support.
Alfie Evans’ parents will meet with staff from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital today to request permission to take Alfie home. His father Tom Evans says he would not try to take Alfie to Italy if allowed to bring Alfie home, but that he would have doctors and support staff help Alfie from their home. Alfie has survived for a third day after hospital doctors removed his life support without their permission.
Here’s more:
Dr Izabela Pałgan, a paediatrician and children’s oncologist from Bydgoszcz in Poland, claims to have diagnosed the 23-month-old toddler on his parent’s request.
She said: “The doctors at the hospital in Liverpool have approached the High Court for permission to unplug the child from his life support machinery, claiming it will be in his best interests.
“But the child is not a dying child. On the Paediatric Glasgow Coma Scale the child ranks at about eight to nine points, so this is not a case of brain death.
“The child reacts to his father’s voice and periodically opens his eyes. Periodically the boy also clenches his mouth when given a dummy, therefore he shows reactions.
“The parents have absolutely stated the child communicates with them when they speak to him – they feel the child somehow feels their emotions and can emotionally connect with them.
“Certainly this is not a dying child. In Poland and I think in other European countries as well, children like this are simply taken care of with palliative care or home care.”
According to Dr Pałgan, the expert was called in to review Alfie’s case after family supporters sought out medical experts who could give a second opinion on Alfie’s conditions.
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