Alfie Evans’ parents needed help. The vultures came instead | Gaby Hinsliff

As if the heartbreak over the fate of their son was not enough, the vulnerable couple became the focus of activists with their own agendas

Fanatical. Deluded. Emotive nonsense. These are unusually strong terms for a judge to use, particularly in a case as intensely sad and bitterly contested as that of the terminally ill child Alfie Evans. Yet Mr Justice Hayden, referring to some of the campaigners now surrounding Alfie’s parents, did not mince his words, after this most hellish of ethical dilemmas ended this week in a court ruling that the child’s ventilator be switched off against the family’s wishes.

The judge was careful not to attach blame to Tom Evans and Kate James, who cannot accept the settled view of their son’s doctors that his brain has been damaged catastrophically by an as yet undiagnosed condition, or that the intensive treatment required to keep him alive is no longer in his best interest and may be causing him suffering.

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2HRiDUJ