Alfie Evans: parents in life-support dispute await ruling from European Court of Human Rights
The parents of a 23-month-old boy who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment legal battle are waiting for a ruling by European judges after failing to persuade Supreme Court justices to consider their case for a second time.
Alfie Evans has an undiagnosed neurological condition, and is in a "semi-vegetative state" at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. Medics have argued that continued treatment is not in his best interests.
His parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, have asked judges at the European Court of Human Rights to intervene.
Alfie's parents have already lost one round of fights, in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and ECHR.
The Case so far:
In February, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that doctors at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool could stop treating Alfie against the wishes of his parents.
Specialists at Alder Hey said life-support treatment should stop and Mr Justice Hayden said he accepted medical evidence which showed that further treatment was futile.
Alfie's parents want to move their son from Alder Hey to a hospital in Rome.
But Mr Justice Hayden said flying Alfie to a foreign hospital would be wrong and pointless.
Court of Appeal judges upheld his decisions.
Supreme Court justices and European Court of Human Rights judges refused to intervene.
A spokesman for the ECHR said on Monday that judges were considering the application as a matter of urgency.