Member of European Parliament: Alfie Evans Case “Institutional Arrogance”
Little Alfie died at 2.30.a.m. this morning and, as a baptised Catholic, we know he is in Heaven. So we need not pray for him, but pray for the consolation of his parents.
Comment:
The MEP in the above video, describes the attitude of the medical and legal establishment in the UK as “institutional arrogance” for their intransigent refusal to allow Alfie to be taken abroad for a “second opinion” / treatment in an Italian hospital.
Given that the opponents of Brexit persistently tell us how the NHS depends on staff, doctors and nurses, from EU countries to keep it up and running, there can’t be any question mark over the qualifications, skills or ability of the medical staff in the Italian hospital which was prepared to accept Alfie. There was a fully equipped air ambulance provided by the Italian Government on stand-by ready to take Alfie to Italy. So what on earth was the problem? Should any doctor or medical team have the right to keep a child prisoner, against the wishes of his/her parents, especially in the face of the provisions in place by other equally well qualified medics?
It was Pope John Paul II who coined the term “culture of death” – is this what we are witnessing in the UK and if so, isn’t it time we campaigned for a new law which affirms the right of parents in such cases to over-ride the wishes of doctors? Is there a need for “Alfie’s Law” to protect the rights of parents in similar situations?
Comments (126)
As a young person, this scandalous case has caused me to re-think my plans to practise medicine. Thank you to Steven Woolfe MEP for helping me see the truth of this case more clearly.
God rest little Alfie and help his parents in this time of grief.
Aquinas,
Maybe you should re-think your position, since we need good Catholic doctors who are not afraid to stand up for the right to life of children like Alfie. The way things are, you would be in a minority, right enough, but we have to start somewhere.
I agree about Steven Woolfe – he was excellent in the video and in the other video on the pro-life thread about Alfie. If only we had more politicians like him.
Aquinas,
I agree with Margaret Mary. We desperately need good Catholic doctors to be pro-active on life issues so I would urge you to think again, although I totally understand your disdain for the medical profession right now.
Aquinas
Well, why not aim to be a High Court Judge and then you will be able to over-rule these anti-life doctors?
This is a lot worse than “institutional arrogance.” This is pure evil. The only thing I can think of which was behind their refusal to let Alfie out of the hospital was that they knew they had misdiagnosed him, or had mistreated him in some fashion, and they didn’t want their malpractice exposed.
The UK bishops, by the way, are fully complicit in this evil act.
RCA Victor,
I agree with you that it is pure evil. Definitely, that is the case.
I have heard that the cause of Alfie’s illness was a vaccination. He was perfectly healthy before he had the vaccine and if that is so, then the medical people won’t want that coming out, which it would have done if he had been examined by doctors overseas in an Italian hospital.
Shame on them for denying his parents the opportunity to have him treated abroad. I’m afraid my own esteem for the medical profession has taken another downward turn, following on from the Ashya King and Charlie Gard cases.
I read somewhere that there are six cases like this in the UK at the moment. If so, then I fear we are very close to being a openly police state.
RCA Victor
You are so right about the UK Bishops. They have been a disgrace throughout this case. They issued a statement praising the hospital right after the Pope’s plea on behalf of the family. I’ve no time for them whatsoever.
http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/04/18/criticisms-of-alfie-evans-hospital-are-unfounded-say-bishops/
Nicky,
I agree. If there is any one individual or group that is more blameworthy in this than the medics and judges, it is the Bishops of England who have, as usual, sided with the State against truth and morals. They did the same when civil partnerships were introduced and again with same-sex marriage, so it’s no surprise, really, that they are with the establishment on this as well. Like you, I’ve no time for them whatsoever.
The UK Bishop fully supported this case against truth, backing evil even Archbishop Malcolm McMahon did so publicly showing his support for Government policy.
http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/04/26/archbishop-of-liverpool-backs-alder-hey-hospital-in-alfie-evans-case/
Of course we know he is the Chairman of “Catholic Education Service” I prefer to call them “Catholic Education Disservice”
They have allowed Transgenderism into both Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools
https://catholictruthblog.com/2017/07/29/catholics-must-fight-transgenderism/ (please also read comments)
They welcome the Government’s Sex and Relationship Education into the schools opposed by SPUC who recommend another more moral and suitable programme for “Catholic” Schools
https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/32034
This is what we are up against,fighting not only the Government, but “wolves in sheep clothing”, one thing which is positive which is the Rosary Coast to Coast UK today for the return of the UK to God
https://www.rosaryonthecoast.co.uk/
Chloe,
It is becoming clearer by the nano-second for those who can’t bring themselves to admit it, even now, that the UK bishops have lost the Catholic faith, if ever they held it.
More and more they are revealing themselves to be worldlings, going along with any and every immorality in the book. Only the fact that our once ardent critics-cum-modernist-bloggers have give up challenging us, gives me hope that even the papolatrists among us can now see both the wood AND the trees. Faithless bishops to serve a faithless pope. God help us all.
The newspapers are reporting that the nurses at Alder Hey were told not to wear their uniforms to work because of the hostile “Alfie’s Army” supporters outside, but I thought nurses were not supposed to wear their uniforms outside the hospital, as it is, obviously, unhygienic. They trip over themselves all the time these people, trying to defend the indefensible.
There’s no question looking at the poll, that if Alfie had been “Louis” or the child of any famous celeb, he would have been taken to wherever there was a chance to save his life. There’s no doubt about that. Alfie’s dad is a very ordinary, down to earth working class bloke, and he was treated accordingly. Shame on everyone of the so-called professionals involved.
Lily, you are so right about ‘them and us’.
A while ago, a farmer somewhere in rural England called the police about an illegal ‘rave’ that was being staged on his land. The police response was that they ‘didn’t have the available resources to deal with it’.
Had this been on a royal estate, the army and air force would have been called in, pronto.
As I said before, on this blog,many times, the great ‘unwashed’ had better get to grips with their station in life and NOT expect what they were previously told to expect.
Someone got prickly when I previously mentioned a Royal, aged 96 getting a hip joint replacement….the usual mantra…probably paid for it himself!
The points I was making were:-
a) With the great unwashed the NHS would have chased you on ‘AGE’ alone….Cost/Benefit analysis.
b) Money talks and Joe Public’s taxes paid for the training of the medical staff in the UK anyway,whether they work private or NHS.
c) Where are the Champions of Diversity and Equality I would ask?
Are we NOT ALL EQUAL?
And before someone jumps down my throat, it is, was, and always will be about money.
The MONEY is THERE….but it’s not for the likes of us to be squandered on.
The judiciary will be wheeled out to nail this down and make sure that there is NO precedent for future similar cases.
You have to remember though, Lily, that the great British battles were won on the fields of Eton so don`t start making heroes of the common “five-eighths”. Did you not get Vita Lampada at school? Where would we be if it wasn`t for the (s)upper classes? Remember the Dunkirk spirit and all that. Oh, sorry, I forgot for a minute.
Just to re-affirm Chloe’s post, this website is promoting the “Rosary on the Coast,” which is happening today:
http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php
Now that Alfie is in Heaven the prayers should be directed to him now that he is more powerful than those who condemned him to an early death.
The doctors in this country can`t thole the fact that some foreign doctors are that wee bit more astute than them. A bit of (professional) jealousy was involved here. I suppose that it must be a bit humbling that someone in the same trade as yourself is capable of doing something you can` t do. I know that I would have a “riddy”, as they say in Scotland, if someone showed me an architectural drawing that I couldn`t make head nor tail of while a workmate was finishing off the roof of a similar build.
As for the question re. the royal family: the answer lies in the treatment the great grandfather of Louis the nineteenth got recently who has been getting preferential treatment since the days when he was in the RN, although that is another story.
I am so horrified at this case, that I find it difficult to express my thoughts. I found this article which really does show the full horror of what is happening in England (and I dare say, Scotland and Wales as well. They are unlikely to be any better.) I’ve copied the article in full because it is really crystal clear that the culture of death about which Pope John Paul II spoke, has taken a firm grip on Britain.
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land…
April 23 is St. George’s Day, the national feast day of England.
On April 23, 2018 three events occurred.
Ealing Council in west London became the first English Local Authority to implement a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for the area around a local abortion facility. It was claimed that this order was necessary “to protect women from distress and intimidation.”
Abortion providers and various pro-abortion groups had lobbied local politicians convincing them of the need for what are declared as “safe zones,” or by pro-life groups known as “censorship zones.” The politicians had been told of fanatical “groups” of pro-lifers accosting women as they entered the facility, forcing them to look at explicit pictures of abortions while calling them names—all influenced by tactics imported from the United States. The conclusion of the politicians was that the very act of praying outside an abortion facility was an act of intimidation.
The building that houses the abortion facility at Ealing has a curious history. Before the trade practiced there now, in the earlier part of the twentieth century, it was called Chapel House, an Anglo-Catholic hostel under the patronage of the Guild of St. Raphael, with its purpose being as a “Christian Home of Spiritual Healing.” On its wall to this day, just below the sign offering its latest services, there is a relief featuring the Archangel Michael.
For the local politicians the fact that for 23 years a peaceful vigil of prayer had taken place at the abortion facility in Ealing was disregarded. The fact also that during that time there had been no arrests or prosecutions of anyone involved in the vigil was also ignored. The concepts of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech were overridden. Those entering the abortion center generally spurned the pro-life groups who had been part of the vigil, however, not infrequently the vigil met expectant mothers only too willing to be helped emotionally and practically to continue with their pregnancy.
Following this first PSPO, however, other English councils, with encouragement from various abortion providers and their advocates, are now considering following Ealing’s lead. There is the prospect that soon it will be illegal in the UK to pray and offer help outside an abortion facility.
The second event on April 23 to take place in the UK was a royal birth. At a private hospital, also in west London, at 11:01 BST, a 22-man team of medics ensured the safe birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third child. The media rejoicing was immediate. Enthusiastic front pages vied with each other in their coverage of the event and pictures of the new-born as editors tried to outdo each other in finding ways to “welcome” the latest royal baby and congratulate his parents.
The third event took place later that day, some distance to the north of where the royal birth had happened. At a public hospital in Liverpool, the life support for a 23 month-old sick child, Alfie Evans, was switched off despite his parents’ pleas for their son’s treatment to continue.
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Alfie Evans was born May 9, 2016 in Liverpool, England, to Tom Evans and Kate James. In December of that year he was admitted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, after seizures; he was to remain there for 12 months. Then, on December 11, 2017, the hospital petitioned England’s High Court to withdraw ventilation, claiming further treatment would not be in the child’s “best interests.”
By February 2018, lawyers acting for the hospital told the High Court further treatment was “unkind and inhumane.” They said Alfie was in a “semi-vegetative state” because of an unknown neurological condition. On February 20, a High Court judge authorized the removal of the child’s life support.
On March 1, Alfie’s parents launched a legal appeal of the High Court ruling. On March 6, their appeal was dismissed. On March 8, the parents appealed to the Supreme Court. Days later they learned that the Supreme Court refused to consider any appeal from the parents. On March 28, the European Court of Human Rights also refused to hear the case.
On April 4, the Wednesday of Easter Week, Pope Francis appealed on Twitter for Alfie’s life. On April 16, the parents mounted a “wrongful detention” appeal against the hospital. On the same day the Court of Appeal ruled against them. Two days later, Tom Evans, a Catholic, like his son, travelled to Rome to meet the pope.
On April 23, Alfie was granted Italian citizenship. This was to facilitate his transfer to an Italian hospital. That same day Pope Francis once more asked that the suffering of Alfie’s parents “ be heard.” An air ambulance military helicopter was sent from Italy, equipped to take the sick child to the suitably named Bambino Gesù Hospital. His parents were keen to make the journey with him.
On the same day, Alder Hey Hospital switch off all life support for Alfie.
On April 24, a further appeal by the boy’s now frantic parents was dismissed by the High Court. The High Court judge insisted the child could not be taken to Rome. The next day, Alfie’s parents once more appealed to the Court of Appeal against the High Court ruling, but all grounds of appeal were refused. The child had to die in England.
On April 28, after having lived for a further five days, Alfie Evans died at 2:30 BST in Alder Hey Hospital.
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In one week, three events concluded. A pregnancy ended in rejoicing. A local government consultation process ended with the right to peaceful vigil outside an abortion facility denied: the pregnancies there must be terminated, whether the women going there did so voluntarily or under pressure, feeling they had no alternative. The third event raises questions. Why would the medical establishment, backed to the hilt by the legal establishment, fight tooth and nail to keep Alfie Evans in England so that he could die in that Liverpool hospital? Why could he not go to Rome, yes to die, but with a greater level of support and encouragement, both medical and spiritual, available for him and his emotionally exhausted parents?
In recent cases, the media have been largely supportive of those who wish to travel abroad to end their lives. Many in the liberal media see the right to die where and when you will as a “human right,” something in which the state should not interfere; they are also vociferous in their support of those who move from one jurisdiction to another, from Ireland to England, for example, to have an abortion. This week, the same media were largely silent or dismissive of the case of Alfie Evans. British media reports, with a few exceptions, focused not on the child’s rights to receive the medical treatment on offer, or on his right to die in a place of consolation, or on his parents’ right to care for their child. Instead they chose to focus on vague accounts of “threats” to hospital staff; they were outraged at what they termed “Catholic fundamentalists” advocating on behalf of the child’s parents.
The name Alder Hey Hospital stirred memories. This hospital was at the center of a scandal at the end of the last century. Between 1988 and 1995, it was revealed that, without parental consent, the hospital had harvested 2,080 organs, removed from 800 children. Also without consent, Alder Hey had stored 1,500 foetuses that had been miscarried, stillborn or aborted. The subsequent government inquiry revealed how the doctor at the centre of the scandal had systematically and illegally ordered the removal of every organ from every child who had had a postmortem. It also told how in his office at the hospital, the same medical practitioner had kept the head of an 11-year-old child in a jar.
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I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face, It’s them pills I took, to bring it off, she said.
(She’s had five already, and nearly died of young George.)
The chemist said it would be all right, but I’ve never been the same.
The Culture of Death in Britain is all pervasive. So brazenly was it on display this past week that the scales dropped from the eyes of any who wished to see. Many do not want to see though. Instead, they prefer to see “fanatics” outside abortion facilities and think nothing further of what is taking place within the “clinics.” The same eyes look away as life support machines are turned off, and the full force of the law is used to prevent the sick moving to a better place to die.
The death of Alfie Evans came one day after the 50th anniversary of the implementation of the 1967 Abortion Act, the legislation that legalized abortion in England and Wales, and which ushered in a new understanding of what it is to be human in that jurisdiction.
Today, the Culture of Death has had 50 years of legalized sacrifice. In a country where the idea of individual rights is a mantra endlessly recited, there is one right that must never be talked of, let alone protected, the right to life for the child as yet unborn. Seemingly, now, the shadow of the Culture of Death envelops: the weak, the elderly, the defenseless, even the dying…
In this past week the darkness over Albion became ever more impenetrable. Although one thing is clear, in what now seems a perpetual night across this land, all the devils are here…
By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept…
Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song,
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long.
But at my back in a cold blast I hear
The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear.
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2018/waste-land-britains-culture-death
This article was written by a man called K. V. Turley, a London-based freelance writer and filmmaker. How come he wasn’t interviewed on any news programmes about this case? Everyone I saw interviewed were praising the hospital and courts, and shedding crocodile tears for the parents. Someone as clear thinking as Mr Turley should have been interviewed.
Saying that, I am very impressed with Steven Woolfe MEP. He’s brilliant in the Sky News report.
Many thanks for that article – powerful, as RCA Victor describes it.
Seeing the whole story synopsised in one place together with the contrasting events of the same day, is truly powerful and should make anyone with even limited intelligence think carefully about the direction in which the “professionals” in medicine and family law are taking the UK.
A seriously thought-provoking article.
Dear Madame Editor:
Here’s another article that you’ll love:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/why-this-famous-wildly-popular-tv-host-cares-so-deeply-about-abortion
Now you’ve made me a Tucker fan too.
Regards,
Margaret
Margaret USA,
Thank you for that. My all-time favourite TV host, Tucker Carlson, so avidly pro-life has made my day. I guessed that, by the way I’ve seen him quiz pro-abortionists but it’s great to have it so roundly confirmed by his own words in that article. Many thanks.
Michaela,
Thank you for posting this powerful article. One important clue to the evil which has now suffocated England is a little further back in history: Nathan Rothschild, 1777-1836, one of five sons of the second generation of the Rothschild banking dynasty, a Freemason, and the wealthiest man in Europe.
Here’s a contemporary description of him “as he leaned against the Rothschild pillar” at the London Stock Exchange:
Eyes are usually called the windows of the soul. But in Rothschild’s case you would conclude that the windows are false ones, or that there was no soul to look out of them. There comes not one pencil of light from the interior, neither is there one gleam of that which comes from without reflected in any direction. The whole puts you in mind of an empty skin, and you wonder why it stands upright without at least something in it. By and by another figure comes up to it. It then steps two paces aside, and the most inquisitive glance that you ever saw, and more inquisitive than you would ever have thought of, is drawn out of those fixed and leaden eyes, as if one were drawing a sword from a scabbard. The visiting figure, which has the appearance of coming by accident and not by design, stops just a second or two, in the course of which looks are exchanged which, though you cannot translate, you feel must be of most important meaning. After this, the eyes are sheathed up again, and the figure resumes its stony posture.
During the morning, numbers of visitors come, all of whom meet with a similar reception and vanish in a similar manner. Last of all the figure itself vanishes, leaving you utterly at a loss.
Nathan Rothschild is also the author of this famous quote:
“I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Empire on which the sun never sets. The man who controls Britain’s money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply.”
In other words, it is the evil of usury that destroyed England, 200 years ago or more (much more, if you consider when the Bank of England was founded).
Applying this to the Alfie Evans case, if his initial seizures were caused by a vaccine, then you can be pretty certain that the pharmaceutical industry (“Big Pharma”) was behind the hospital’s barbaric murder of Alfie.
As for the UK bishops, their true motto, which they share with their corrupt boss, is the diametric opposite of Pope St. Pius X:
“To destroy all things in Christ.”
RCA Victor,
That’s a very telling quote about who controls the nations of the UK – whoever controls the money. “Follow the money” as they say.
A reader sent me this YouTube clip, which is, apparently, some staff speaking inside Alder Hey Hospital, unaware that they were being recorded.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=795PE8RC-kc&w=854&h=480%5D
Note:
It is difficult to hear what is being said in that video, and the Liverpool accent doesn’t help (no offence brothers and sisters in Liverpool!) I’ve transcribed what I could decipher, so posting it below. If I’ve missed something important that others hear, please add it below and I will insert it into the text when I see it.
The conversation seems to be between three members of staff, two females (F) and one male (M)…
TRANSCRIPT…
F1 – He’s still breathing. What I don’t understand is, if he’s brain dead why aren’t all his organs failing? Why isn’t he on a catheter because he wouldn’t be able to go to the toilet.
M – I’m not supposed to be talking about it… because I’ll get myself into trouble because I am who I am. I personally think they’re covering something up here… (indecipherable) … I know exactly what they’re going through.
F – There must be something we can do… we have got the numbers…
M – I know…
F – I don’t think it could get any worse, do you?
M – (indecipherable) ……. to see their son
F – They got to try to remove him first. Have you ever seen something like this being successful?
F2 – Never.
M – [mentioned the previous similar case of Charlie Gard… “I went to London…”]
M – I can’t talk about it any more because I’ve got kids to feed and clothe…
F – We do understand why everyone is… got a job to do… END.
That’s the best I can manage… Maybe others can fill in the gaps.
The main thing, though, is that here is evidence of staff within Alder Hey who are suspicious. And to whom I say… Join the club!
That’s a very interesting conversation. As they say if he was in the veg state they claim, why were all his organs not shutting down? The whole thing is suspicious.
I am shocked with the whole ‘Alfie Evans’ case. I hope Tom Evans, continues to speak out and pushing for ‘Alfie’s Law’.
Ultimately, I pray that the pope will consecrate Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart in union with of his Bishops around the world and only then will this all be over, and we will have instant peace. We will see more good things happening like what has happened with North and South Korea.
It all lies in the hands of Pope Francis.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
Catherine
I do agree about the Consecration of Russia. Everything hinges on that.
The Catholic Herald has published a report which I quote below.
However, we should note that Steven Wolfe is not qualified to make judgement on the specifics of this case. Nor indeed is any Cleric, no matter how high their rank, including The Pope, or foreign national government, or foreign medic or hospital, or any armchair medic or moralist who posts on a blog, who does not have direct, and full, insights into the medical condition the medics at Alder Hey sought to treat. As The Cardinal notes the medics treating Alfie did so over many, many, months, and they consulted international experts, as did the UK Courts. The decisions they made in the light of their expert knowledge, and the law of the land, and with some assent to Catholic moral teaching, which the Cardinal highlights, and they received from lawfully constituted Courts, who can rule under our Constitution, and law, when questions about their advice and decisions arise.
I quote:
“Cardinal Vincent Nichols has defended Alder Hey hospital’s role in the Alfie Evans case.
During a visit to Poland on Sunday, the cardinal reportedly criticised people who ‘sought political capital’ from the case, and said some who took a stand on the case ‘didn’t serve the good of the child’.
‘It’s important to remember Alder Hey Hospital cared for Alfie not for two weeks or two months, but for 18 months, consulting with the world’s top specialists – so its doctors’ position that no further medical help could be given was very important,’ he said, according to The Tablet.
‘The Church says very clearly we do not have a moral obligation to continue a severe therapy when it’s having no effect, while the Church’s Catechism also teaches that palliative care, which isn’t a denial of help, can be an act of mercy. Rational action, spared of emotion, can be an expression of love; and I’m sure Alfie received this kind of care.
It’s very hard to act in a child’s best interest when this isn’t always as the parents would wish – and this is why a court must decide what’s best not for the parents, but for the child,’ he added.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah….so would should sit on the edges of our seats when Vincent Nichols has something to say, because we are all too thick to understand, is that so?
Petrus Regnat,
Sounds like the Cardinal is the original “useful idiot” (term attributed to Lenin) – a man who will support the enemy not understanding that it is against his own best interests so to do.
Of course Cardinal Nichols would defend Alder Hey, as he defended the introduction of civil partnerships and as he maintains a deafening silence on every depravity afflicting UK society today. He’s about as Catholic as my mobile phone number which ends with 666.
The issue with Alfie Evans was NOT about going to extraordinary lengths to keep him alive – we all know that is not necessary. The issue was the blatant denial of the opportunity for him to be examined and treated, or given end of life care in another hospital in another country. I thought it was only in places like North Korea that people were not allowed to travel abroad. Scary that it happens here, that parents who wish to take their child overseas for medical treatment, are not permitted to do so by the State. Chilling.
There has to be a reason why doctors would prefer to take parents to court in order to keep their child prisoner when there are perfectly good and well qualified doctors in another land, ready to care for Alfie, and to make all necessary provision for his safe transport, through a top-class air ambulance. There has to be a reason.
Personally I believe they didn’t want Alfie to be examined by another doctor abroad. After all, it’s a very strange medical professional who admits that the child has an undiagnosed condition, never known before, and yet turns down the opportunity to have another professional examining him, with fresh eyes, and perhaps uncovering the true cause of his condition – i.e. being able to diagnose it… and thus treat it. Wouldn’t you think the doctors at Alder Hey would welcome that?
Of course, if the child were injured in some way through medical negligence – say through vaccination – then the Alder Hey staff wouldn’t want that to be uncovered.
The problem is, their strange fight to keep the toddler under their care, right to the end, raises suspicions in those of us who are not in the “useful idiot” category, who don’t believe “doctor knows best” and who can smell a cover-up a mile away.
I’ve thought a lot about this case and my puzzlement at the doctors’ intransigence is partly because they had absolutely nothing to lose by agreeing to the parents’ wishes to allow the child to go to Italy in the air ambulance. Worried about legal redress? Get the parents to sign a waiver, problem solved.
I draw the parallel from my own professional days, if a parent is insistent that I prepare his teenage son for A Level Theology. I explain that, while wee Johnny did well enough in his GCSE, A Level is another kettle of ability altogether and he is highly unlikely to achieve a top grade in the subject. Parent insists. I explain as best I can, that he might be better doing A Level PE instead of RE. No joy. So I record the fact that I have explained the facts to the parent, I really do not think wee Johnny is a suitable candidate for A Level Theology but in order to comply with the parent’s wishes, I am happy to teach him in my A Level class and present him for the examination. In my pretty little head, I’m thinking that I am off the hook if he fails, and if he passes, WOW! Do I get a huge box of chocolates. Nothing to lose – get it?
The fact that the doctors at Alder Hey didn’t think that way, puzzles the socks off me. And makes me highly suspicious. Keep emotion out of it you say? No way. It seems to me that there is something seriously wrong with someone who is not very angry indeed about this case and the tyrannical State intervention to over-ride parental rights and family life which it represents. Seriously wrong with them. Make no mistake about it. Useful idiots, all.
As for Cardinal Nichols? A waste of hierarchical space.
Editor
So renowned medical experts, at home and abroad, and The Courts, who consulted them, know less than you?
In 2014, when The High Court ruled the child born to parents who were Jehovah Witnesses should have a blood transfusion to save his life, were they disrespecting the rights of the parents, having listened to medical experts, or actually thinking of the rights of the child and seeking to interpret the law properly? If they were right then, why not now?
You cannot have it both ways!
Petrus Regnat
I think the point Editor was driving home is that too many people trust the establishment in this country. Very few challenge doctors or courts. It’s a kind of naiveté, because they are thinking (you are thinking) that by virtue of being a doctor of judge, these professionals know the right thing to do. Because of this naïve attitude of the public towards doctors and lawyers, an “institutional arrogance” has grown up, as the MEP in the video said. He was absolutely correct, IMHO.
There is only ever one time when it is acceptable for the state to intervene in family life and that is in the case of proven abuse.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are misinformed about blood transfusions because they take a literal translation of a verse in Acts about “abstaining from blood” and so it is acceptable for doctors and courts to intervene because the doctors in that case were seeking to save life, not end it. That’s totally different from any of the cases we have been discussing.
So, not taking it upon myself to speak for Editor, of course, but she CAN have it both ways! LOL!
Fidelis can I quote a father of four, who is a former intensive care doctor:
“Alfie Evans has an irreversible, catastrophic degenerative neurological disorder with no hope of recovery. The brain does not regenerate. Respiratory function and other basic physiological reflexes are literally, neurologically nothing whatsoever to do with sentience, consciousness or self awareness. Death, surrounded by those who love Alfie, peacefully, quietly, in dignity is in his best interests, this has been affirmed not just by his doctors but by the highest Court in the land. Having pictures of him in intensive care plastered all over the press, or being used as a political and religious football, or having people scream outside his hospital room is NOT in his best interests……….
the behaviour of “Alfie’s Army” is, to be frank, disgusting. Threatening doctors and nurses by name such that they fear for their lives is disgusting. Threatening to storm a children’s hospital is disgusting. Threatening to pull fire alarms when other children are on the operating table having life saving surgery is worse than disgusting. Piggy-backing onto the grief of the parents of a baby you have never even met is flagrant grief tourism and an ultimate act of selfishness. Furthermore, veiling such aggressive and malignant behaviour behind a pretense of faith could not be further from what it means to be a Christian.”
At what point do the rights of a suffering child become more important than the hopes of well meaning but ill informed parents? Is it right other patients, their families, and dedicated medical staff be subject to abuse for no good purpose at all?
Can a Court judge between the religious faith of one group of plaintiffs is more important than those of another faith, or must they decide on the basis of medical expertise and the law, and the needs of the person whose interests, and theirs alone, need protecting?
Petrus Regnat,
You prove the point about doctors being always right. Even a doctor who is a father of four and former IT doctor isn’t infallible!
You change tack to go on about “Alfie’s Army”. Obviously, nobody condones the behaviour you describe but I don’t believe it happened, or not the majority of it – otherwise we’d have been getting it pushed down our throats on the news channels. There was one shot of some people trying to get into the hospital and that was it.
It’s not about “religious” faith – it’s a simple question about why the Alder Hey doctors would not permit the boy to be taken by air ambulance of the highest quality, to another hospital to be examined?
It’s because they have something to hide, IMHO – if I’m still allowed to have one. How could the judges decide on the basis of medical expertise when the doctors couldn’t diagnose the condition? For goodness sake, you don’t have to be a genius to work out that there’s something far wrong here.
I would remove the rose-coloured specs if I was you because you obviously think that doctors are always right and always know better than the parents.
What does your doctor friend say about Ashya King?
Fidelis
The point I was making is that in relation to a decision made on by parents on faith grounds, or their personal hopes or beliefs, is that the Court must decide on the basis of medical advice and the law, and never on the personal hopes or beliefs of the parents. In both the cases I cite the courts did that. You cannot argue in one case they are right, and in the other they are wrong.
On what basis can you dismiss the opinion of any medically qualified person, and set your judgement above them, and that of the Courts?
I wasn’t quoting a friend but the views of a medic in the public sphere.
No where have I said a Doctor is always right, and nor have I said a Court is always right. However, a judgement agreed upon by both The Courts and Medical experts is probably worth much more than those that of ill informed, well-meaning, activists who have no meaningful insight at all, and definitely no knowledge.
Petrus Regnat,
You are avoiding answer the central question which is why would the doctors go to court to keep the child against his parents’ wishes, when there are other doctors in Italy willing to examine him and if they can’t treat him – i.e. if Alder Hey is right – they will give him end of life care. That’s all the parents were asking, not to keep him on life support forever.
With an undiagnosed condition, why would the doctors at AH refuse the parents’ wishes.
I agree with Fidelis that the case you cite of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is not appropriate because in that case the doctors want to save the life not end the life prematurely. It’s not about “faith grounds” but medical grounds, since having a blood transfusion would save the life, whereas not allowing an alternative doctor’s opinion has resulted in the death of Alfie. I’m surprised you can’t see the distinction.
Petrus Regnat,
You are too quick to take the popular media view of this (and similar) cases.
At least one doctor in Poland has examined Alfie and contradicted the Alder Hey staff
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/951353/Alfie-Evans-update-dying-doctor-Alder-Hey-Hospital-prison-health-latest-news
Also, a German doctor has said publicly that we should learn from the Nazis – that cases like Alfie would not happy in Germany now.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/german-doctor-on-alfie-evans-uk-could-learn-from-nazis-how-disabled-should
Neither the Daily Express nor Lifesitenews are “religious” papers although because someone is religious should not mean they are banned from speaking out or that their thoughts on the subject are any less important. This putting down of the “life” view as “religious fundamentalism” is a ploy of the media. It is disappointing to see it in someone I presume is a Catholic.
Laura
It is not clear the Polish doctor examined Alfie but it seems they spoke to his parents, and I assume if they had evidence to give then they would have been called as a witness in Court. Nowhere does the newspaper suggest they examined him or that the Court saw them as a potential expert witness.
As in the case of Charlie Gard, many of those who tried to intervene, and comment, never examined the patient under discussion. Would you accept a remote diagnosis, or prognosis, for yourself from a Doctor who never met or examined you?
The only point I have made in relation to religion is that a secular Court would not make a decision on religious grounds. I have directly, and indirectly by quoting The Cardinal, written of Catholic Moral Teaching, and I have quoted a senior Cleric, and so I think it is a tad strange to question my Catholic credentials.
Editor
In terms of abortion/ being pro life one of the key supporters of the recent Rosary on the Coast event was The Cardinal, and he frequently cites pro-life issues in his talks and sermons.
Subjecting a very sick person to constant futile treatment, and even international travel, to receive more futile treatment is wrong!
The Polish Doctor frequently cited quotes not the evidence of brain scans etc, but what the parents have reported and what she has seen in evidence on videos (presumably from a smartphone). The Court heard evidence based on medical tests.
I note the parents of Alfie never condemned the threats, and disturbance, to the safety, and welfare, of other sick children, and their families, or to the medics undertaken by “Alfie’s Army”. Further, in terms of Soho Masses, and other moral issues, do you know in which Church Kate James and Tom Evans were married?
Well, now you have a real dilemma, Petrus Regnat, because dear old infallible Cardinal Nichols seems to have a very different view of Catholic moral teaching from both Pope Francis and the Vatican Secretary of State, who says the following:
May 1, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Vatican’s top diplomat says it’s “incomprehensible” that Alfie Evans’ parents were banned from taking their son to Italy’s Bambino Gesu hospital.
If there was a reason for it, says Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, it followed “terrible logic.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-secretary-of-state-it-was-incomprehensible-to-block-alfie-evans-rem?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=106b61ac5e-Catholic_5_1_2018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-106b61ac5e-403774537
The rest of your latest post is a load of who shot John. No time to state the obvious except THIS obvious – if Kate and Tom were not married, that’s hardly surprising. When was the last time your infallible cardinal – or ANY priest you care to name – spoke out against cohabitation? That’s right. Never. And those two look a tad too young to have been around prior to Vatican II, which brought us the new springtime of Catholic faith and morals where babies are aborted (and I’ve never seen a prolife headline quoting Cardinal Nichols, so forgive me for my assumption that he is as pro-abortion as he is pro-“gay”) and people routinely cohabit before getting married surrounded by their offspring in the roles of flower-girls and page boys.
So, Cardinal Nichols knows better than the Pope and Vatican what is Catholic moral teaching as it applies to the Alfie Evans case? Shocked!
Editor
As with Charlie Gard, The Vatican was not basing it comments on the basis of direct knowledge of the of the medical tests/treatments/diagnosis/prognosis of Alfie. If The Vatican Diplomat – Secretary of State or not – was being diplomatic they would be sensible not to comment without reference to the relevant Doctors, and the local Church.
It is to the credit of Cardinal Nichols, and Archbishop McMahon, that they have maintained their stance and have not publicly criticised The Vatican directly for their crass ill-timed, wrong footed, intervention which helped no-one. Maybe The Pope should have reminding himself of his own maxim “who am I to judge”.
This is the same Pope, and Secretary of State, who uphold AMORIS LÆTITIA which many have questions about, and which is frequently, roundly, criticised on this blog? You can’t change horses when you have already put a bed on the riders.
On a regular basis I hear sermons upholding Traditional Teaching on Marriage – one as recently as Sunday!
Petrus Regnat,
Are you for real? Have you read this open letter to Cardinal Nichols?
http://listeninginthedesert.com/?p=6927
Actually, I don’t think it would make any difference to you, you have made up your mind that this ordinary guy from Liverpool, who doesn’t speak with marbles in his mouth, doesn’t matter.
I notice you say “many have questions about Amoris Laetitia” – what about you? Do you have any questions about it?
Thankfully, most people are on the side of the family, and the only ones who are not, are people like you who drink in the media bilge and believe it just because that’s what they tell you to believe. I notice you’re not on the new thread about naïve Catholics and the media, LOL!
Fidelis
I think Alder Hey, The Courts, and the majority of people were on the side of Alfie, and that may indeed be in opposition to the views of Kate and Tom.
Tom and Kate were it seems on the side of “Alfie’s Army” which we are told their behaviour was, “disgusting. Threatening doctors and nurses by name such that they fear for their lives is disgusting. Threatening to storm a children’s hospital is disgusting. Threatening to pull fire alarms when other children are on the operating table having life saving surgery is worse than disgusting. Piggy-backing onto the grief of the parents of a baby you have never even met is flagrant grief tourism and an ultimate act of selfishness. Furthermore, veiling such aggressive and malignant behaviour behind a pretense of faith could not be further from what it means to be a Christian.”
How many children suffered because medical staff, and others, and their families, were under duress from Alfie’s Army?
Petrus Regnat,
I don’t believe all that stuff about Alfie’s Army. If true, we’d have been getting it stuff down our throats on the news.
What is really “disgusting” is to see a Catholic siding with the culture of death. Alder Hey is a hospital with a terrible reputation. Yet you defend it despite all the evidence on here, the articles, reports, interview with an MEP, taping of a conversation with Alder Hey staff who were obviously suspicious of what was happening to the child, and you think a few over-zealous (at worst) members of the public, who were shocked at the parents having their child held captive, is “disgusting”?
You really are something else, and I’m withdrawing from this conversation because I am not sure if you are playing games, trying to wind us/me up, or whether you are just brainwashed.
You didn’t answer my question about Amoris Laetitia, as I knew you wouldn’t. You’re a slippery character, that’s for sure.
Fidelis,
Would you mind not responding to Petrus Regnat any more? He/she/ it/them is clearly exhibiting troll like behaviour now, not addressing any arguments just repeating the same old same old, nonsense.
You’ve asked a very simple question about Amoris Laetitia. I’ll now watch for his/her etc reply and then decide on whether or not this is yet another candidate for my disappearing act.
In the meantime, please ignore all posts from Petrus Regnat and I’d ask everyone else to do the same. I know I’m not wasting any more time on him / her / it / them, blah blah… In other words…
http://wisdomlifequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/Dont-waste-words-on-people-who-deserve-your-silence.-Sometimes-the-most-powerful-thing-you-can-say-is-nothing-at-all.-.jpg
Editor
I have not been repeating the same arguments, and no-one has been able to counter new points I have raised.
The Polish Doctor, The Pope, and all others speaking from the side lines did not examine Alfie or speak to the specialists treating him, or see his medical records.
With regards A.L. The Pope, and The C.D.F., should clarify its teaching so as to discount, and remove, all possible erroneous teaching that is contrary to Catholic Teaching on Marriage, and any dubious interpretations of it.
Petrus Regnat,
There’s no reason to think that the Polish doctor didn’t see Alfie – in fact I’m pretty certain that there was a report indicting that the Polish doctor did see Alfie. You just want to pick holes in every argument that indicates Alder Hey, failing hospital, by the NHS’ own standards, is right and the parents’ wrong. All the indications are that Alfie was murdered in the final hours – read the reports about the drugs administered almost at the last minute by a (no doubt) “caring” member of staff – oops, when Dad had popped out of the room for a moment. Suspicious? Heavens, no.
In any case, if the Polish (and German) doctors and Pope Francis did not see and examine Alfie, did you? Have YOU seen his medical records? What about the next best thing – have you seen photographs and read the details that were released in court – now posted by Alfie’s parents on social media to counter the lies told by the hospital – Alder Hey has a dreadful reputation, thanks to the NHS’ own reports on it, although you ignore that, and every other fact in your determination to get at “Tom and Kate” – the parents. I wonder why you detest them, so much as if YOU care more for their child they did? Arrogance writ large. Anyway, thanks to those photos and details we have the next best thing to Alfie’s medical records. As if we can’t smell a scandal anyway in this patently obvious case. Only the “nanny State knows best” and “doctors are infallible” brigade have fallen for the party line. Brainless. Useful idiots, with bells on – oops I must apologise… for ending a sentence with a preposition. Tut tut.
As for AL and “dubious interpretations of it” – you give yourself away, big time. You are a modernist Catholic – I suggest, then that you read our blog but desist from contributing to it because we’re not interested in modernist poison and anti-life, anti-parental rights “opinions”. THAT’s the stuff WE detest. Big time.
There’s no shortage of blogs (platforms provided by the secular press under every report/article) where you can wax lyrical about the Big Bad Parents of Alfie Evans. We’re not interested and we have no time to spend writing lengthy responses to your same old, same old comments. Not ONCE have you commented in detail on the hard evidence given to you on this blog but you go nit picking looking for loopholes (e.g. the Polish doctor) in order to sustain your anti-life, anti-parental rights position. Do find another platform. You will never be happy here and I have no intention of writing even one more comment of this length in reply to your anti-life, anti-parental rights guff.
‘Byeeeeee!
Like the Dubia I asked I have said there needs to clarity. As I say exactly the same thing as The Four Cardinals you have previously lauded and praised, how can I be now wrong?
Editor: I didn’t need to wait for the four cardinals to identify the heresy in the document. I don’t need “clarity” – I need the heresy retracted. Do you?
Likewise, please quote one sentence where the Polish Doctor says he examined Alfie. I am pretty sure she didn’t.
Editor: well, I’m sure she did – see below.* You really DO need to read the stuff we put before you…
As for the medical records etc I don’t need to see them. The UK Court’s did.
Editor: well, your trust is terrifying to behold. It’s like saying you really don’t care what the jury might have said because the Judge took Jack the Ripper’s word for it that he was innocent! Whatever, greater medical minds than either yours or mine have questioned the court’s decision – see statement from the Medical Ethics Alliance below…
* Editor: you obviously don’t read the links or you would know that the doctor from Poland DID examine Alfie: Links are given in the original reports – go find them on this thread, if you want to read the report in full, including link to Polish newspaper report.
POLAND, April 26, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A Polish doctor has stated that UK toddler Alfie Evans is not “dying” and is certainly not “brain-dead.”
Dr. Izabela Pałgan, a pediatrician and children’s oncologist from Bydgoszcz in Poland, told Radio Wnet April 25 that in her professional opinion, doctors at Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool where Alfie is being kept are misdiagnosing the boy.
“Doctors at the hospital in Liverpool asked the court to agree to the separation of the infant from life-support, on the grounds that it would be in the ‘best interests’ of the child. The infant is not a dying child. He is not brain-dead,” she said, as reported by Polish news portal Fronda.pl.
Pałgan said that Alfie’s brain scans do not show that he is in a “terminal state.” They do not, for example, show the state of his brain stem, she said.
“The child reacts to the voice of his father, he periodically opens his eyes, he tightens his mouth around his soother. The parents insist that he is making contact with them,” she added.
Videos taken by the family and posted to Facebook show the toddler yawning, making eye contact, responding to voice, sucking his dummy…
Dr. Pałgan claims to have examined Alfie in Britain some time ago at the request of Alfie’s parents. They had asked for second opinions. [emphasis added by me to make sure you see it, since you seem to have missed it every other time it’s been posted.]
Medical Ethics Alliance…
UNITED KINGDOM, April 24, 2018 (LifeSIteNews) – A group of British doctors are condemning the treatment Alfie Evans has been receiving at Alder Hey children’s hospital.
The Medical Ethics Alliance has released a statement indicating that the Liverpool National Health Service facility has put Alfie on a “pathway towards death” and has brought the entire medical profession into “disrepute.”
“We are deeply concerned and outraged by the treatment and care offered to Alfie Evans,” the doctors wrote in a press release this morning.
Their statement comes less than 24 hours after Alfie had his ventilator removed against the wishes of parents Tom and Kate. Alfie continues to breathe on his own, confounding doctors’ predictions. The parents are continuing the legal battle to have their son’s care transferred to a hospital in Rome. A UK judge will make a decision this afternoon.
“Despite a viable alternative being available (namely transfer by air ambulance for further assessment to a specialist hospital in Rome), the hospital and doctors responsible for his care insists that he remains under their care and on a pathway towards death,” they continued.
“While he now has some oxygen and some fluid, this has taken huge effort to obtain for him. He is offered sedation although (we understand) this has not been given at present. Sedation (if given) would mean that he would develop respiratory failure and die even more quickly.”
“Actions such as these have now brought the Alder Hey Hospital to worldwide attention and by extension bring our whole profession into disrepute.”
Stating that “medical tyranny must stop”, the doctors demand that British authorities allow Alfie safe passage to Rome. They also demand an investigation into Alfie’s doctors’ conduct
“With respect we insist that with immediate effect the [General Medical Council] investigate the actions of doctors providing his care”.
The statement was signed by Dr Anthony Cole, Dr Thomas Ward, Dr Adrian Treloar, Dr Robert Hardie, and Dr Josephine Venn-Treloar.
The Medical Ethics Alliance invited other doctors to cosign their petition. They can do so by emailing secretary@medicalethicsalliance.org.uk. ENDS.
Now, if you come back with the same old same old, I’m done with you. We’ve tried our best to help you and your comments are now pre-moderated before release in an attempt to not bore the blogging community to death with the same old, same old round in circles we go posts from you. If you think I’m going to be responding to your posts in detail again, though, you are wrong. In fact, I’ll allow one more post to go into moderation and if it’s more of the same nonsense, I’ll consign you to my favourite file – the one where I don’t need to read your trollings at all ever again. Heaven! So, be warned. Don’t waste your time, because I certainly won’t be wasting mine.
Laura
Lifesitenews says of itself is primary works from Judeo Christian perspective, which suggests it is primarily an inter-faith perspective, and so, yes, it is a religious, not secular, organisation.
Petrus Regnat,
You display the confusion typical of the sort of Catholics (no shortage of them, sadly, today) who wish to leave God out of every moral discussion. For example, they want to speak about abortion only on the basis of the development of the child in the womb, the disabled have the right to life based on human rights legislation and so on.
But THE key reason for pro-life activism in its every aspect, is the fact that human beings have souls, destined for eternal life.
Thus, the main reason to fight for the right to life of every human being from conception to the natural end of life is because that soul has a destiny for which it prepares in this world – eternal bliss with God, Father Son and Holy Ghost, in the next.
And so it would be very strange indeed if the only writings not worth taking into account in debates surrounding children like Alfie Evans, were those published in religious publications. Very odd indeed.
After all, while a pro-life atheist doctor can argue eloquently about the scientific reality of a life in the womb from the moment of conception, a Judeo-Christian writer can point out that even before the child is conceived in the womb, God knew and loved that soul, and so to kill that child is to deny him/her eternal happiness with God in Heaven: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5).
So, don’t dismiss Lifesitenews or any other publication with religious roots commenting on life and death issues – you like the secular media, might write them off as “religious fundamentalists” but in doing so, you misuse the term “fundamentalist” for the reason given in my previous paragraph.That everyone has the right to life because God created that soul and destined it for eternal happiness with Him in Heaven is, indeed, fundamental to any discussion about abortion or end of life issues. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5).
Editor
I believe The Cardinal clearly explains the decisions were within the realms of Catholic Moral Teaching. It can therefore be said God has not been left out of the equation as the Moral Law is his.
The Courts and the Law sometimes have to defend children from the well meaning ignorance, and self indulgence, of parents, who do not take into the dignity, and rights, of the child and who may unduly suffer for prolonged periods. That is the attitude that says regardless of Moral Law, medical and other experts, science, the civil law, and common sense, I will fight to “save” a child that should be allowed to die peacefully surrounded by love, and not by emotional irrational acting parents, who have become the tool of political actors.
In ignoring Catholic Moral Teaching, as expounded by The Cardinal then people, other than those like me, ignore God!
Petrus Regnat,
You really need to catch up.
For one thing, Cardinal Nichols doesn’t give a toss about Catholic moral teaching as evidenced by his support of “gay” Masses, his defence of all that goes on in those sacrilegious events and his public support for civil partnerships and same-sex marriage. His silence on abortion and euthanasia. So, please don’t gimme “Catholic moral teaching” in ANY context – Cardinal Nichols does not, as I say, give a toss.
As for the Alfie Evans case as we are all sick of pointing out to you, this was NOT a case of parents seeking extraordinary treatment. You are either not paying attention or you have limited intelligence, I have no idea which and I don’t mean to misjudge you…
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8d/be/af/8dbeaf28f4b92f8532c9b5517894da11.jpg
I suggest that you read every comment from the Catholic Truth bloggers again, including the reports and articles linked, and then see if you understand the issues better.
Petrus Regnat…are you a doctor or a nurse or an employee of Alder Hey..simple question?
Petrus Regnat,
You obviously do not want to believe that the doctors and court got it wrong. I think the doctor did see Alfie
“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.”
But even if not, I notice you ignore her remarks about this not happening in other European countries and you make no comment at all on the German doctor’s remarks. That’s very interesting and shows me that you did not want this child to be given the chance to go to Italy. I wonder why.
You do realise that the boy was starved to death? There was a court ruling a few years ago that made it legal to treat food and drink as medical treatment, so it could be withdrawn. The following report is from The Daily Caller – not a religious publication
http://dailycaller.com/2018/04/27/government-officials-starving-alfie-evans-to-death/
I did not question your “Catholic credentials” but I simply said I was disappointed to see this media ploy to bash religious opinions used by a Catholic (I don’t know you so had to say I “presume” you are a Catholic because you are on here and your username.) I have to say though that I honestly cannot understand how any Catholic could be opposed to the parents’ right to make decisions for their own children, and in this case, to take the child to a foreign hospital in a properly and fully equipped air ambulance. There was just no reason for the UK authorities to refuse that. Just no reason at all, unless, as others have said, they had something to hide, which, frankly, is the view I have now formed.
Is your objection solely that you think the doctors here in the UK must be right and the courts must be right, and so the parents just have to accept that?
Petrus Regnat,
So, if a publication has a religious root or leaning it has to be discounted as having nothing to say about Life issues? Are we only to take the opinions of secularists and atheists seriously now?
I knew there was a crisis in the Church, but I’d no idea it was so deep.
Petrus Regnat
You quoted,
“However, a judgement agreed upon by both The Courts and Medical experts is probably worth much more than those that of ill informed, well-meaning, activists who have no meaningful insight at all, and definitely no knowledge”
How can you put so much faith in Doctors and Courts when UK Abortion Act was passed in 1967 resulting in the slaughter 9 million babies?
These so called “activists” include a Polish Paediatrician who examined Alfie and said he had been misdiagnosed. There has also been advances and success in medicine to reverse brain damage.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/alfie-evans-is-not-dying-or-brain-dead-hes-been-misdiagnosed-polish-doctor
You also mention as an example a High Court Case in 2014, where the deliberate harming of a child by parents who wanted a life saving procedure to be halted were overruled by the Courts. Unfortunately, you have agreed with the Editor in this example. Possible life-saving treatment must be tried and if some person or persons deliberately halt this treatment(in this case you mention the parents in 2014) the child’s life was protected. However when the parents saw the possibility of the child being treated they were deliberately halted from doing so. The human rights of the child was withdrawn.
Cardinal Nichols has been shamefully exposed for what he is in this sad case.
Well, Petrus Regnant, the parents wanted to take Alfie to a well respected hospital. Why on earth was there any need to take it to court to prevent this? Why did the hospital feel Alfie had to be protected from well respected medical professionals?
Italy is only two hours away. A well equipped medical helicopter with medical personnel were waiting to take him. How on earth was this any worse than the chemical suffocation Alder Hey had planned?
Because Petrus, the powers that be do not wish to create a medical,legal precedent, whereby the public at large will have expectations that will never again be indulged due to ‘budgets/austerity measures or whatever; as each one f us are just Profit Centres (while we work and pay taxes) and our capricious whims (looking after human beings) bring us in to negative equity as far as the ‘bean counters’ are concerned.
It is about cost. However we can lob £112 millions worth of missiles in to Syria in 1/2 an hour of Virtue/Gesture bombing.
Note that the Syria caper has suddenly gone quiet !
St Miguel,
I think this is about something more sinister than money.
Petrus,
I completely agree. Your point is very clear indeed.
Well, what was the name of the condition the child had ?
St Miguel,
Exactly the question which nobody can answer, which is what makes the court decision all the more shocking. They were not going on medical facts but on the opinions of the doctors at AH. There’s a big difference. The doctors in Italy might have challenged the doctors at AH which is what they didn’t want, IMHO.
With all their learning they could not name the condition?
Peters Regnant,
With respect, you can hardly compare parents refusing their child a life saving blood transfusion and parents seeking to take their child to a hospital that could potentially offer their child treatment.
I’m a parent and if, God forbid, I had to go through what the parents of Alfie Evans went through, I would do anything to save my child.
Petrus
Thank you for that – it’s important to have the perspective of a parent here, and it seems you are the Lone Ranger in that respect!
Useful idiot?…..just useless I would say…surprised he did not tell us all ‘to hold our tongues !’…..remember that one from a few years back.
I would not let his so called eminence walk my dog !
I could not agree more RCA Victor and thank you Michaela for your outstanding article.
I have supported the pro-life vigil outside Ealing “Abortion Mill” on a few occasions, but some of the pro-life vigil members have done this for over 20yrs, an outstanding piece of heroism which never gets a mention. In the last 10 years they have saved over 500 babies!
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2018/04/13/please-dont-ban-pro-life-vigils-they-saved-my-babys-life/
As for the Doctors, the British Medical Association(BMA) two thirds of them voted for abortion on demand, at any stage in a pregnancy.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/27/abortion-should-decriminalised-say-doctors-back-call-law-change/
If a Doctor/Nurse can murder a defenceless child, they are capable of anything! Don’t be surprised what happened to “Alfie”
As for the spineless Bishops, the nephew of Dietrich von Hildebrand summed them up well:
“If Church leaders remain silent in the face of such “tyranny, injustice and oppression,” he adds, they become “accomplices of, and indeed, active participants in, gravely evil acts.”
Please read open letter to the UK bishops, if you have not already done so
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/open-letter-uk-bishops-handling-of-alfie-evans-case-was-an-abject-failure
Again,as I have repeated so many times the BMA is a UNION….for Doctors to get the best pecuniary advantage for their members…NOT starting to change statute !
BMA Guidelines are NOT, repeat NOT law.
There is a legal expression called ‘Depraved Indifference to Murder’.
The hierarchy world wide have a sin to answer for.
Petrus Regnat,
The Polish Doctor states that she examined “Alfie” so why would she be risking her professional career by lying and also this has not been refuted by Alder Hey.
https://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2018/04/alfie-evans-is-not-dying-or-brain-dead-hes-been-misdiagnosed-polish-doctor/
Where is the List of “World Renowned Doctors” who have been consulted by the Hospital and the Courts?
The scan was not confidential, so why has this not been disclosed.
Cardinal Nichols should have escorted the child out himself, with the parents and Medical Team to the waiting Air Ambulance to the Italian Hospital. He will not be able to live this down, no matter how hard his Media Team including bloggers from “Vaughn House” try to put forward feeble arguments to defend him.
As a Cardinal, he is just indefensible
Has anyone been able to create a transcript of the Alder Hey staff video posted above by Editor? It is almost entirely incomprehensible to me.
Despite Petrus Regnant’s evasive “trust the experts” baloney, the central issue – as expressed by Editor and others regarding the state-approved murder of Alfie – remains this:
“The issue was the blatant [highly suspicious] denial of the opportunity for him to be examined and treated, or given end of life care in another hospital in another country.”
And the central corollary issue is the surrender of the worse-than-useless UK bishops, who do nothing but disgrace and betray their high office and prepare for themselves an eternity in Hell.
At least now all the barbarians have been unmasked.
Pro-lifers are about to be criminalised. Expressions like ‘well meaning but ill informed’…the riff raff are getting above themselves, the peasants are revolting, they have to be put back in their cages.
The arrogance is palpable, it shows how the medical and legal professions see themselves as above us.
This power of life and death wielded by medics seems to be a dopamine rush for some of them.
RCA Victor,
It is difficult to hear what is being said in that video, and the Liverpool accent doesn’t help (no offence brothers and sisters in Liverpool!) I’ve transcribed what I could decipher, so posting it here, and will post it above underneath the video as well. If I’ve missed something important that others hear, please add it below and I will insert it into the text above at the video…
The conversation seems to be between three members of staff, two females (F) and one male (M)…
TRANSCRIPT…
F1 – He’s still breathing. What I don’t understand is, if he’s brain dead why aren’t all his organs failing? Why isn’t he on a catheter because he wouldn’t be able to go to the toilet.
M – I’m not supposed to be talking about it… because I’ll get myself into trouble because I am who I am. I personally think they’re covering something up here… (indecipherable) … I know exactly what they’re going through.
F – There must be something we can do… we have got the numbers…
M – I know…
F – I don’t think it could get any worse, do you?
M – (indecipherable) ……. to see their son
F – They got to try to remove him first. Have you ever seen something like this being successful?
F2 – Never.
M – [mentioned the previous similar case of Charlie Gard… “I went to London…”]
M – I can’t talk about it any more because I’ve got kids to feed and clothe…
F – We do understand why everyone is… got a job to do… END.
That’s the best I can manage, RCA Victor. Maybe others can fill in the gaps.
The main thing, though, is that here is evidence of staff within Alder Hey who are suspicious. And to whom I say… Join the club!
Thank you Editor…and here’s yet more disturbing news about this hospital, and about the beginning of Alfie’s illness: https://spectator.org/alfie-evans-is-just-the-latest-victim-of-a-deadly-nhs-hospital/
Read the comments on that one RCAVictor, yep the cost/benefit analysis algorithms do exist.
RCA Victor
WOW! That is one very revealing and utterly shocking report. I singled out this, among the many, paragraphs that I found shocking to post here:
“Most of the media have covered Alfie’s case, with characteristic dishonesty, as a tragedy that began before the boy was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. But, according to the court testimony of the NHS physicians who admitted Alfie, his initial diagnosis involved a fairly common condition: “viral bronchiolitis and a possible prolonged febrile convulsion.” The still-undiagnosed brain disease that allegedly killed Alfie didn’t appear until after he entered this dangerous hospital.”
Reading that Spectator report alone, makes me reconsider my opinion about NHS Vs private care. If Alfie’s parents were paying via an insurance plan, I presume the hospital would not have had the ability to detain him, as they did. That patients are being routinely euthanized, is one very strong argument against the public NHS system and in favour of private medicine.
That hospital clearly ought to be closed down, judging by the NHS’ own reports on it. How utterly deceitful of the media to keep all of those facts from the public when reporting this case. No wonder there are moves afoot to censor the internet (all in our “best interests” of course….)
Thanks again RCA Victor. I had heard that little Alfie had been admitted with a minor ailment and that his condition worsened while in hospital, but I’d no idea of the details OR of the facts which were exposed in court – but not reported in the media. Utterly shocking.
I will now seriously question the elementary intelligence of anyone who seeks to defend the Alder Hey staff. Seriously.
The media?…..notice how they move on when exhausted a story.
Why are their no video or photos or media coverage of the funerals of the chemical attack in Syria?
The media are tools of the New World Order.
Like Charlie Gard, this will soon be forgotten by the time of the Royal Wedding.
I was reading online in the recent past, that it was the AH that introduced the Liverpool Care Pathway to dying patients with cancer, then later extended it to all dying patients. Part of the Care Pathway was to allow dying patients to suffer dehydration. Although, they have supposed have disbanded this initiative now. I very much doubt it. I think that it is very much alive in AH. I don’t know how much anyone knows on the subject who can tell us more about it, but as far as I remember the hospitals’ funding was determined on how many patients they could put on the pathway scheme. I don’t know much about it but thought it was relevant with the ‘Alfie Evans’ case.
Catherine
This report confirms what you say and notice how it ends, saying parents feel coerced into this “end of life” process, where they are really just left to die. It’s cruelty legitimised because it’s “allowed” by the state. It’s shocking.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9710426/Children-placed-on-controversial-death-pathway.html
Here is Cardinal Nichols’ disgusting response to the growing tide of criticism directed against him and his fellow criminals:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/04/30/cardinal-nichols-says-alfie-evans-case-used-for-political-aims/
This is a classic example of double-speak, wherein murdering a patient is described as “palliative care.” It is also a complete surrender to the state:
“It’s very hard to act in a child’s best interest when this isn’t always as the parents would wish – and this is why a court must decide what’s best not for the parents, but for the child.”
As Christopher Ferrara would say, does anyone hear a hissing sound?
RCA Victor
What does Cardinal Nichols mean by “political aims”? Is he accusing Pope Francis of having “political aims” by speaking FOR the life of the child and the parents’ rights.
I’ve never rated him at all, but now I just think he’s a stupid, stupid man.
Michaela,
I suspect “political aims” (a cheap shot also used by Theresa May) is the attempt by the political elites – of whom Cardinal Nichols is one – to dismiss the moral outrage over the murder of Alfie as motivated by less-than-noble aims…and to attempt to absolve themselves.
But in repeating these laughable slurs, they are just complicating further their own complicity in this barbaric, heinous act.
And now there is suspicion that Alfie was given a cocktail of 4 drugs shortly before he died, which, it seems, caused his death:
“Two hours before dying, the oxygen saturation was about 98 and Alfie’s [heart]beats were about 160, so much so that Thomas was convinced that they would let him go home soon (as the hospital administration told him on Friday afternoon). Before dying, while Thomas had gone out for a moment, leaving Kate half-awake and another family member in the room, a nurse entered and explained that he would give the baby four drugs (no one knows what) to treat him. After about 30 minutes the saturation dropped to 15. Two hours later Alfie was dead.”
(This article is from the ChurchMilitant site – i.e. Michael Voris – so I won’t link it. Bloggers can look it up for themselves.)
You have no control of your own body….ergo organ donation UNLESS you OPT OUT and that opting out will be vilified by the elite.
What a flaming cheek…humans used like salvage, ~ for a profit obviously.
Personally I wouldn’t give them my toenail clippings.
This is now a Police State, with doctors and solicitors acting as gauleiters.
RCA Victor,
“…does anyone hear a hissing sound?”
I think he does…
https://media.giphy.com/media/jquDWJfPUMCiI/giphy.gif
And how about this?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43922888
Just like ‘choice’, ‘dying with dignity’ sounds much more anodyne than murder, now doesn’t it.
Pat McKay,
I saw that on Sky News today – they are determined to get euthanasia in by the back door, there’s no doubt about it. Again the bishops remain silent. What do they think their job is, for goodness sake?
How many times over the years I have written on this blog that this is the plan.
AGENDA 21.(google that)
The population needs culled, especially the non productive ones according to the elite.
Euthanasia will become a right, then a duty and then it will be forced upon us by a ‘care giver/social worker’ working under performance bonuses with set targets by algorithms.
Mark my words folks !
Saves anyone looking this up.
https://www.disclose.tv/agenda-21-the-plan-to-depopulate-95-of-the-world-by-2030-313560
ST MIGUEL, you may have heard of the ‘Georgia Guidestones’ – Auld Nick’s 10 Commandments and ‘an important link to the Occult Hierarchy that dominates the world in which we live’.
http://www.radioliberty.com/stones.htm
Interestingly, the very first of these is ‘ Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature’. This surely squares with the ‘wipe out 95% of the population’ agenda.
Chilling.
So there will NEVER be a cure for cancer, unless it for those and such as those. They will never want to prolong longevity as the money for pensions is so grudged anyway. The young are being Neuro Linguistically Programmed to despise the eldery, disabled and non working.
Nichols is a showman, dress up, turn up, method actor. It’s a Barnum & Bailey World…’nice to see you, to see you nice’…..that’s about it.
I wrote to Steven Woolfe to thank him for his efforts to help Alfie & family – here is his – encouraging – reply, hopeful of changing the law in favour of families caught up in these disputes, received this morning:
FROM STEVEN WOOLFE MEP
Thank you for your email
I’m devastated and heartbroken of the death of Alfie and the pain this has caused Tom, Kate and the family, I am in full of admiration at their courage, tenacity and determination to raise awareness of Alfie’s fight.
I am also thankful to the huge support given to them by Alfie’s Army. Unlike many in the main stream media, I do not regard you all as a mob, but decent fellow human beings wanting to help an Ill child and their family.
As a consequence of my involvement with Tom and the family, I have seen first hand how difficult it is for ordinary families to challenge the power and authority of the NHS trust and the courts.
That is why I believe our country needs change in the Law which gives parents a stronger voice and enables them to fight cases like this where, they have access to parent advice to assist them on their rights and to help financially in gaining appropriate legal support.
Finally, It must also grant parents the chance to take their children aboard for further medical assistance if it exists.
I am already consulting with people who have experience in drafting legislation and in talks with other families who have been in this situation and also want a change in the Law.
I hope, at the right time we will be able to continue the work we have been doing and gain your support to make a change.
Many Thanks
Steven Woolfe MEP
An open letter to Cardinal Vincent Nichols regarding Alfie Evans: “Do not abandon us to the culture of death.”
http://listeninginthedesert.com/?p=6927
Pat,
Thank you for posting that Open Letter. Given the facts published therein by the father of Alfie and the photographs, even the “Doctor knows best” and “Cardinal Nichols is a saint” brigade, clowns that they are, must see the truth of the matter. Then again, it’s a very true saying that “there are none so blind as those who will not see.”
I can just imagine his response – ‘people like Ms Short should learn to hold their tongues’.
Pat McKay
Those photos of Alfie are shocking. God forgive the media for withholding such crucial information and painting the hospital as if they were caring and experts when they’re obvious neither.
At least Alfie is in Heaven now, so he can help his parents in their grief.
I have also sent him an e-mail thanking him for standing up for “Alfie”. In these times it is difficult to get anyone to stand against the “Establishment” as for the Bishops they are too busy cosying up with the Government and having tea with the Queen.
Chloe,
I agree – the majority are watching their own back, one eye on the next promotion. I can’t remember hearing a single Catholic MP from the UK or Scottish parliaments saying a word about Alfie’s case, shame on the lot of them. Steven Woolfe MEP is to be commended for his attempts to help this family and toddler.
We are living in a society that is actively anti-Christian. Decades of atheistic and perverted laxity and the importation of millions of muslims should be a clue.
The hatred of Christianity pervades Europe with few countries exempted. The Church in Europe is trying very hard to operate in accord with the “liberal” values of society, despite these values being almost entirely at odds with the teachings of the Church, the traditions and the Magisterium. No cleric can be trusted to defend the Church or any of its members.
We should also keep in mind that we are owned by the State. We need the permission of the State for every aspect of our lives. Every aspect is recorded and monitored. This tragedy underlines these things.
Editrix….I have recently asked Petrus Regnat a simple question which he will not answer:-
Is he a medic or in anyway connected with Alder Hey and he will not answer?
Throw in the towel!
I would love to see the equivalent of a Nuremberg trial for whatever staff of Alder Hey are responsible for the murder of Alfie Evans, along with the immoral, pro-gay judge who ruled against his parents, along with Theresa May for attempting to scoff at those who object to this outrage, along with Cardinal Nichols and any other UK bishop who supported the murderous State.
They are all Nazis in everything but name.
https://www.catholicfamilynews.org/blog/2018/5/2/a-tale-of-two-infants
RCA Victor
Many thanks for that beautiful report from Catholic Family News. Absolutely beautiful final paragraph.
But this paragraph – WOW! I didn’t know this… Really and truly, this is dynamite…
A brief look at the British judge at the center of the Alfie Evans case is sufficient to see the forces of death hard at work. As noted by the Church Militant website, High Court Justice Anthony Hayden is a pro-gay activist and a member of the Bar Lesbian and Gay Group (BLAGG), a network of gay lawyers in the United Kingdom. “He has repeatedly ruled against Evans’ parents, represented by the pro-life, pro-marriage Christian Legal Centre, which has condemned homosexuality as one of the ‘most significant challenges to God’s pattern for family in today’s society.’” Hayden is also the co-author of a book promoting gay adoption, described as a guide for those “who provide advice and support to same sex families.” In his February 20 ruling that permitted the halting of life support, Hayden noted (apparently with no trace of irony) that young Alfie required “peace, quiet and privacy.”
Amazing. Only one word of warning – the CFN report links to another report claiming that Alfie was given four drugs just before he died, but this allegation is, reportedly, denied by all concerned, including Alfie’s parents. So we need to park that, unless it is later proven to be true – and we have to hope not.
Editor,
Here’s more on the alleged murder of Alfie:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/lawyers-media-on-alfie-theyve-killed-him
This is Voris’ website, unfortunately, but the article quotes the Director of an Italian news outlet:
“And Riccardo Cascioli, director of Catholic news outlet La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (not only has the news outfit covered Alfie’s case firsthand, it has also personally supported Alfie Evans’ family, as well as helped to arrange Thomas Evans’ meeting with Pope Francis) declared, “We must say the truth: Alfie’s been murdered. There must be no ambiguities on this.”
“A few hours before the death, Tom and Kate were told they would be able to take their son home, one last hoax,” he commented. “In reality they had decided Alfie wouldn’t leave the hospital alive, and so it was. They have killed him.”
RCA Victor
This report is truly terrifying and shows Alder Hey as a “vindictive” hospital. It also shows that patients are being euthanized in the UK routinely.
https://zenit.org/articles/zenit-exclusive-more-of-the-story-of-alfie-evans-and-his-parents/
The whole article is rivetting but the questions at the end need answering.
HLI on the Alfie Evans case.
https://www.hli.org/2018/05/what-did-we-learn-from-alfie-evans/?utm_source=spiritandlife&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sl20180507
Article says it all Pat. Does ANYONE knows what Nichols was doing last weekend that was so important? Imagine him spouting at a Life Rally after his Alfie Evans comments…..total disgrace.
Missing in Action eh?
I’d never heard of Caroline Farrow before, but apparently she has been targeted by internet trolls for her role in exposing the murder of Alfie:
https://www.lifesitenews.com//news/she-kept-the-world-informed-about-alfie-evans.-online-haters-are-now-trying
But there was something in this article that left me scratching my head (in fact, almost laughing):
But pseudonymous online attackers, known as “trolls”, have been coming after Farrow since she first joined a Catholic media initiative called Catholic Voices in 2011. Catholic Voices, founded by journalist Austen Iverleigh, trains young Catholics to explain Catholic teachings to interested journalists when Church-related stories break.
Austen Iverleigh training Catholics to explain Catholic teachings???? Isn’t that a bit like Bill and Hillary Clinton training people on how to tell the truth?
RCA Victor,
I first heard of Caroline Farrow as a speaker for Catholic Voices, a liberal bunch who set themselves up at the time of Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK, to answer questions in the media (to make sure the media got the “right” answers, LOL!)
Looks like she’s not with them any more, doing her own thing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-44048189/boy-wakes-up-just-before-his-life-support-was-to-end#
He had better luck than wee Alfie!
Crofterlady,
That is a shocking story and notice, as well, the way the medics are falling over themselves to keep Alex Ferguson on the planet. No worries about him being starved and dehydrated to death. Money and fame – amazing what they can do for your health!
That thought crossed my mind….today the pagan culture of worshipping a round thing, the sun, moon stars now replaced with the ball…snooker, foot, tennis, golf, cricket, ping pong, rugby you name but people idolise the players….more so the ‘managers’ of the teams and so it goes on.
The old ball caper will get many a Knighthood.
Money and Fame, yes….Ariel Sharon was kept alive for years, no one gave up hope for MIchael Schumaker the racing driver, did they?
Are the rank and file not allowed to expect the best, coz we are ALL supposed to be EQUAL.
We even have an Equalities Minister….or are SOME more equal than others?
Just saying.
I’m really beginning to wonder if most of the bloggers on this site have only ever had bad experiences from the medical profession? No one seems to have a good word to say. I still think that we simply cannot rely on the media to publish accurate medical details on individual cases, confidentiality is still important.
Elizabeth,
I’ve always had a good experience of the medical profession, just as I’ve always had a good experience of the teaching profession but I know that there are concerns in both professions. (Happily I’ve no experience of the legal profession, LOL!)
However, the Alfie Evans case is a major cause for concern and there are medical professionals who have publicly condemned Alder Hey over this case. I think this was posted before, but I’m putting it here to save you scrolling.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/uk-doctors-group-supports-alfie-evans-condemn-hospitals-medical-tyranny
It’s not about “confidentiality” – maybe you have forgotten, but the law was changed a few years back to allow patients to be starved and dehydrated to death. This is now routine in hospitals. Alder Hey is on public record as having failed the NHS inspection tests and they asked for the Liverpool Pathway end of life system to be permitted for sick children.
People are now strongly advised to appoint a family member as Power of Attorney because of the Mental Incapacity Act because only if we have someone to speak for us, can be hope to avoid such a painful death. Even then, as we see in the case of Alfie, we cannot be sure of it.
So personally, and with respect, I don’t think it’s about the bloggers here not having a good word to say about medical professionals, but more about your own unwillingness to accept that there are serious concerns about the direction medicine is taking these days.
Laura,
All I am asking for is a little balance. I am not at all unwilling to accept deficiencies in the medical profession. As a former nurse I have encountered arrogant and unprincipled doctors more than once. In fact I resigned from my last post in protest against what I saw as disgraceful neglect of a patient. And also pursued a complaint against a hospital for the poor treatment given to my dying aunt. And won an apology. So I am under no illusions. However I am uneasy about accusing Alder Hey of murder. If there is a question about that then there should be an inquest and a trial. I just cannot believe that they would kill a child for the reasons that RCAVictor is alleging.
Elizabeth, none of us on this blog were born yesterday, the medical, legal or teaching professions are NOT some kind of Elite or self appointed ‘Leaders in Thought’.
We are obviously too thick to have voted for Brexit, as our political masters seek to insult our intelligence on a daily basis.
We, yes we, pay their wages…we are the gatekeepers, we can read and sift and google and get all the info we need.
We have opinions, we are educated and can give anyone a run for their money.
What I won’t put up with is people in power hectoring us for daring to question them.
We are the stakeholders/shareholders in the NHS and we just won’t be taken for a ride.
Elizabeth,
I think Laura has spoken for us all, or most of us here, but I would simply add that I have a mixed experience of the medical profession dating back to my youth when I was employed for a time as a ward secretary, attending meetings with senior medics. I recall one Consultant remarking on my obvious disapproval of his comments about elderly patients (he was a Geriatric Consultant) and my reply which was: “I was just thinking that I hope I’m never in a hospital in my old age”. He laughed it off, but now that I’m approaching old age myself (after 29 the years fly, I’m told!) I find myself praying that whatever afflicts me, I do not require hospital admission. I do have relatives appointed to act as Power of Attorney, with clear instructions not to allow me to be starved to death. No need to go to extraordinary lengths to keep me alive, I’ve told them (as if they would!) but definitely do not allow the medics to starve me to death.
WHO on earth, a few short years ago, would ever have thought we needed to say that? I was taken aback on the day of my mother’s (RIP) last (as it turned out) admission to hospital that I was asked five times if I had Power of Attorney, firstly by the attending GP (a different doctor from my current GP) and thereafter by hospital staff. Terrifying. I actually said to each one who asked that, POA or not, (and I did have POA), I wanted my mother treated to keep her alive and get her home. In fact, I did get her home when the hospital said there was nothing more they could do for her, and she died at home some months later. That’s as it should be – not acting to hasten death.
As I’ve indicated above, and as you appear to have experienced yourself as a nurse, there has been a wrong attitude (I put it no more strongly than that) to the elderly (and to others from sick children to the terminally ill) for a long time. The difference is that in recent years it has been more openly executed (if you’ll excuse the pun) and there is absolutely no question about it, euthanasia/assisted suicide, whatever it’s called, will soon be passed into national law. And, as we all know, if something is “legal” then it’s “moral” in the eyes of the hoi polloi.
At present, I am blessed to have a very good GP – happily, I’ve not had to visit him too often but I was delighted to find that he is a reader of this blog, so I’m not saying anything here that I haven’t or wouldn’t say to him, directly. General Practitioners are one category of medical professional, Dr Harold Shipman aside, but hospitals worry me to death – again forgive the pun!
Here is an update on Alfie Evans, suggesting that (a) vaccines were responsible for his brain damage, and (b) that he had to be murdered before his 2nd birthday, which was yesterday, because once he reached his 2nd birthday, he had “rights” and the NHS could be sued:
https://restore-dc-catholicism.blogspot.com/2018/05/why-was-alfie-murdered-before-his.html
Also, follow the link at the end of the first paragraph for the NHS policy on vaccine damage payment.
Laura, could you elaborate a little on this please? What law etc?
“but the law was changed a few years back to allow patients to be starved and dehydrated to death.”
Helen,
I don’t know to which particular law Laura refers, so I’ll leave that to her to answer, but it is a fact that food and drink are now regarded as “treatment” and since treatment can be withdrawn on medical advice, so can food and drink. I’m not sure if there’s a specific law, but I do know that food and drink are now classed as “treatment”.
I think that anyone who has a comment on this case should read the following report first.
https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/alder-hey-v-evans.pdf
Elizabeth,
Thank you for posting that link to the judicial review, which I hope to finish reading tomorrow. I’ll comment in more detail then.
Elizabeth,
I have been reading the review in bits and pieces since yesterday, but not finished yet, due to persistent interruptions and the nuisance of having to eat and drink occasionally, not to mention keeping up with this blog – indeed, the only thing I’ve been spared today is a visit from a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses!
I’ve still not finished reading the entire document, but, while the detail given is impressive, if largely incomprehensible to the lay mind, I did check out the initial diagnosis, made when he was admitted to hospital:
Admitted to hospital in Dec 16. “Alfie was diagnosed with acute viral bronchiolitis and a possible prolonged febrile convulsion.” (#6)
There being massive gaps in my medical knowledge, understanding and expertise, I visited a couple of NHS sites for accurate definitions:
– (1) acute viral bronchiolitis – a common illness of the respiratory tract. It’s caused by an infection that affects the tiny airways, called the bronchioles, that lead to the lungs. As these airways become inflamed, they swell and fill with mucus, which can make breathing difficult. and a possible prolonged febrile convulsion.
– (2) Febrile seizures (febrile convulsions) – are fits that can happen when a child has a fever. They most often happen between the ages of six months and three years. It can be frightening and distressing to see your child having a seizure, particularly if it’s their first one. However, the fits are usually harmless and almost all children make a complete recovery afterwards.
So, in lay terms, nothing to seriously worry about.
I’ve not quite finished reading, although I have been making notes and researching a little, but so far, the question remains as to why, if a condition is undiagnosed – and they are nothing if not completely open about that fact – they can be so certain that there is nothing to be done. The twin remarks about there being no diagnosis (but) Alfie won’t recover, is striking throughout. I know it’s not an exact analogy, but a teacher wouldn’t be allowed to get away with claiming that pupil x – wee Johnny – has some impediment holding him back from learning and so teacher is confident that he will fail the exam. S(h)e would be sent packing to work out some way of identifying and removing the impediment and helping wee Johnny to pass. It strikes me throughout that here we have a succession of doctors examining the same records and agreeing with one another. Strange that not one of these doctors suggested an alternative way forward. Except Professor Haas – cut down to size by the Judge…
Indeed, I find it most interesting that the pleasant and benign tone of the Judge changed dramatically when he rebuked the one professional who did not agree that Alfie should be allowed to die: The judge remarks:
“Professor Haas proffers this summary of his own perspective as to Alfie’s best interests:
43 To summarize this young boy Alfie is at the best of my knowledge unfortunately suffering from a severe, very likely progressive neurological disorder that will ultimately lead to his death. In agreement with the statements of his medical team I have difficulties to believe of any cure for this child. It is however unclear how many time he will be able to share with his parents. Apparently he has so far lived longer than initially projected. Withdrawing of treatment will immediately lead to his death and this can certainly not be in his interest. It is clear that in his best interest there should be a possibility for Alfie to live the possibly short rest of his life in dignity together with his family if this is the wish of his parents at home, which I believe is the best for him, outside a hospital or in a hospice or other form of caring institution. A dedicated neurological rehabilitation institution may be of additional benefit because there may well be other treatment and stimulation therapies I am not aware of”. [emphasis added – Ed]
44. Professor Haas was instructed by these parents to assist them and the Court on the basis of his experience and expertise, which is evidently considerable. It is no part of his function however to utilise the case as a platform for his own personal beliefs. I found the following concluding paragraph to be inflammatory and inappropriate, not least because the views expressed bear no relationship to and do not engage with the facts of this case. It would not be appropriate to edit them out of this judgment and for that reason only I set them out. I will address them below. [emphasis added – Ed]
“Because of our history in Germany, we’ve learned that there are some things you just don’t do with severely handicapped children. A society must be prepared to look after these severely handicapped children and not decide that life support has to be withdrawn against the will of the parents if there is uncertainty of the feelings of the child, as in this case”. ” END OF EXTRACT.
This is perhaps a good point at which to break; I will finish reading the entire document but – as I’ve already said – I would have been more convinced that nothing was awry, had the authorities issued an autopsy report rather than a judicial review which, ultimately, carries no meaningful weight.
However I will finish reading it – I promise!
Elizabeth, are we all supposed to be impressed by legalese sophistry, Crests, insignia, words like Royal, words we see these days like the word TRUST linked to hospitals, charities etc?
Are we supposed to sit up straight, fold our arms and pay attention when we see the words.gov.uk in a link.
I for one am not buying it.
St Miguel,
It would be more impressive if you had rather more profound reasons for “not buying it”. With respect, whether or not the document contains crests, insignia, words like “Royal” etc, is all irrelevant. You need to read the review and see if you spot an issue.
I’ve not been able to finish reading it myself, but my first thought on seeing it was, why no autopsy? THAT would have settled or confirmed the concerns of us all – it seems incredible that the powers-that-be would produce a judicial review and not an autopsy.
There is an old saying, ‘he that protesteth too much’….as you say no post mortem and therefore no diagnosis as to the real cause of death.The powers-that- be want the last word and the ‘enquirers’ to shut up and go away..do not dare question the Establishment.
I do not trust a single word spouting from the Establishment these days, they constantly over egg the pudding.
With no post mortem it is not worth the paper it is written on…but hey ho that’ just my opinion.
St .miguel, just read it please. I think even you would agree that it shows great respect and compassion for the child and the parents. Why do you have such contempt for British tradition I wonder?
Apparently Alfie Evans’ parents are about to open a new chapter in this heinous situation: https://mahoundsparadise.blogspot.com/2018/06/thomas-evans-break-silence-they-paid.html
RCA Victor,
That’s really interesting. I couldn’t help thinking of Alfie over the weekend with all the news bulletins about the little boy with severe epilepsy who had his “medical cannabis oil” that his mother had bought in Canada, and was confiscated on arrival in the UK. They had lots of TV coverage, the mother was very nice and praising of the doctors and nurses and so on, then the Home Secretary intervened and had the cannabis returned to her. Then, once that decision was made public, the mother’s tone changed and she said on camera that the Home Office should have nothing to do with medicine again, and she was going to campaign for legalising medical cannabis.
Maybe if Alfie’s dad had sung the praises of the hospital and government instead of criticising, he would have had a different outcome.
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