Alfie Evans: parents prepare for new High Court fight over toddler's life support
The parents of a 23-month-old boy who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment battle are preparing to return to court.
Tom Evans and Kate James have lost legal cases over their son Alfie Evans in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights.
Alfie Evans: a timeline of the case so far
Alfie Evans is being treated in Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool
The toddler is in a "semi-vegetative state" and has a degenerative neurological condition doctors had not definitively diagnosed.
Specialists at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool said life-support treatment was not in Alfie's best interests.
In February, a High Court judge ruled that doctors could stop treating Alfie against the wishes of his parents.
Mr Justice Hayden said he accepted medical evidence which showed that further treatment was futile.
Court of Appeal judges upheld his ruling.
Supreme Court justices and European Court of Human Rights judges have refused to intervene.
Last week bosses at Alder Hey said they had been unable to reach agreement with Alfie's parents about exactly when treatment should stop.
They said they would ask the judge for "guidance" on the issue.
The couple have complained that "the state" is wrongly interfering with their parental choice.
They want to move Alfie to a hospital in Rome for further treatment.
Protestors have rallied in support of the couple.
What happens now?
Mr Justice Hayden is listed to analyse further issues at a follow-up hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London today.
A spokeswoman for the Christian Legal Centre said a lawyer who represented the group would help the couple at the hearing.
She said barrister Paul Diamond would argue that Alfie's parents had seen their son's condition "improve significantly" since February and would ask the judge to allow an independent neurologist to examine Alfie and provide an up-to-date opinion.
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