The disturbing case of Alfie Evans shames Britain

There was never going to be a happy ending to the story of Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old boy treated at Alder Hey hospital, Liverpool, for an undiagnosed neurological condition that destroyed his brain. But somehow the British establishment has contrived to make a tragic situation worse – to the point where large swathes of European and American public opinion are convinced that this terminally ill child and his parents have been the victims of a grotesque injustice.

Whether that is the case will remain a matter of opinion: the medical and ethical questions raised by Alfie’s plight are not easily resolved. Alder Hey’s specialists were quite certain that there was no hope of saving him. On Monday night, despite frantic appeals from his young parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, the hospital was granted the legal right to turn off his ventilation.

Alfie’s mother and father knew that he had no long-term prospects of survival.