During another three-hour hearing on Tuesday at the Family Division of the High Court sitting in Manchester, Paul Diamond, from the Christian Legal Centre representing the parents, suggested the alleged change in the position meant the court should reconsider its decision on allowing Alfie to travel abroad.
He handed the court a witness statement from Mr Evans in which he suggested his son’s health was “significantly better” than first thought since life support was withdrawn at 9.17pm last night, as he was continuing to live and breathe.
But Mr Justice Hayden said in his ruling: “The sad truth is that it is not. With little, indeed no hesitation, I reject that.
“The brain cannot regenerate itself and there is virtually nothing of his brain left.
“There is, in truth, with great respect to the efforts of Mr Diamond, no substance to this application, which represents, at least within the court process, the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy.”
The Alfie Evans case is the latest in a long line of cases where courts and doctors have determined that patients are supposedly too far gone and supposedly don’t have the quality of life to justify even basic nutrition or care and treatment — let alone experimental treatment to try to treat their conditions or diseases.
Nowhere was this more on display than in Judge Hayden’s courtroom yesterday where the British judge had no interest in attorneys for Alfie’s family reminding him that Alfie is a human being worth legal protection.
Witness the exchange below between Justice Hayden and Paul Diamond, the attorney for Alfie’s family, who desperately attempted to remind the judge that Alfie as a little boy and a human being who deserves better from the British courts and medical system. But the judge wanted no part of that reminder — and actually used it to admonish Diamond to encourage him to quit saying Alfie is a human being.
The unbelievable exchange appears below:
But Mr Justice Hayden cut down Paul Diamond, representing the parents, as he began the family’s appeal hearing.
Mr Diamond said: “This really is an appeal, in our submission for common humanity and common sense…”
The judge interjected: “I don’t think it’s helpful to use emotive terms. As a barrister confine yourself to the law.”
Mr Diamond gave a witness statement from Mr Evans, taken on Tuesday, to the court suggesting his son’s condition is “significantly better” than had been previously believed.
Mr Diamond said the child had been breathing unaided for 19 hours.
He continued: “We do have a human being…”
Again the judge cut across him: “I don’t need to be reminded we have a human being. You do not have the moral high ground in this court. It is treacherous terrain.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Justice Hayden used yesterday’s court hearing to explain his bizarre quality-of-life rationale for limiting Alfie’s parents in their attempt to provide medical care and treatment for their son. Hayden almost seemed to delight in telling everyone in his court room that some doctors essentially think Alfie has no brain left.
SIGN THE PETITION! Please Let Alfie Evans’ Parents Take Care of Him
For those wondering how a judge could prevent Alfie’s parents from taking him home or letting them take Alfie to Italy for treatment, there’s your answer. Alfie is supposedly too far gone to be afford even basic medical care and apparently courts and hospitals are best to determine that instead of a patient’s family.
