The case of young Alfie Evans, son of Everton fans Thomas and Kate Evans, keeps getting stranger by the day. It is truly difficult to understand the reasoning of Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool, given the choices in care they have made for Alfie and their current desire to end his life.

The admins Facebook group for Alfie’s Army (of which Thomas is an admin), nearly 40,000 members strong, have posed a few questions about what they see as irregularities in the decisions made by Alder Hey. They are as follows:

Why has Alfie been intubated for so long?

It is unclear why the hospital has never opted to do a tracheostomy on Alfie. Instead, they have left a tube down his throat. A tracheostomy would remove the need for him to be sedated and give him the chance to truly assert his full ability to interact with the world around him.

Instead, the hospital has kept him sedated all this time and now on the basis of his lack of response seeks to end his life. It appears at least that they are seeking to let Alfie die on the basis of a status quo that they themselves are insisting on maintaining.

It is also worth noting that according to the representatives of Alfie’s family, the hospital on the European continent willing to take Alfie for further treatment, which Alder Hey is refusing, would perform this procedure immediately as the best next step for the patient. Speaking of which:

Why will Alder Hey not release him to another hospital?

I simply cannot see any line of reasoning that would lead this hospital, which has admitted it can’t help Alfie, to refuse another institution the chance to try and save this child’s life.

How can it possibly be in the best interests of Alfie Evans to die when medical professionals and facilities think he still has a chance to live? This is a serious question that needs to be addressed by the hospital, though it is unlikely that they are going to be able to provide any real explanation as to why they won’t do this simple thing and step away from the matter entirely.

Why was the hospital so quick to take the Evans’ to court?

Before making this a legal matter, and further complicating the process of getting Alfie the help he needs, the hospital owes it to Alfie’s family and the patient himself to try to work out what is best for Alfie with the decision makers in the family. It is the opinion of the family’s representatives that this process was not nearly thorough enough and may actually have been conducted in an illegal way. With a child’s life at stake, why is there any question as to the legality of the process taken by the hospital at all?

Alfie needs your help

The petition to call Alder Hey to action to help Aflie can be found here. It is over 40,000 signatures.

If you’d like to donate to Alfie’s cause you can do so here.

We’d like to remind you that the family has had nothing but good things to say about the specific caregivers who have worked with Alfie. The staff at the hospital treating Alfie are not bad guys. The family does not wish to disparage them, and they do not with for there to be any kind of threats against the hospital. Their only concern is for Alfie to be able to stay alive, and to that end they will petition Alder Hey to action.

Alfie has no diagnosis, as far as anyone can tell he is not terminally ill, yet if the hospital has its way he will be allowed to die.

Please continue to pray for this young man and his family. We’ve been reporting on it since July, and now as Christmas approaches Alfie’s Army is still hoping for a miracle.

UPDATE: After this article was submitted for publishing we received the following update from Thomas Evans:

“IMPORTANT AMAZING NEWS!!!

My legal team have been trying very very very hard to get this court date adjourned so me kate and Alfie can enjoy our Christmas as a fsmily with no time bomb or schedule on Alfie. My legal team put a application into the court to adjourn it and it was refused but after a new app going in the hospital lawyers and court frm my legsl team it was suggested the court case to be adjourned and mediation to be put on place!

This is amazing news for my kate... Alfie and my legal team, we get to enjoy our Christmas without any court dates in please yet.

This does not mean court is not happening it means the app is still in place but only we are going to have mediation to see if we can come to a agreement.

Big massive huge thank you to my legal team I am so blessed to have s team like you we can not thank you enough

Please remain positive and no negative comments to ah we are still getting on well with the staff and Drs and have a relationship we would like to detain.

Thank you all for your continuous support it means so so much to us and we pray for a positive outcome at mediation.”

As this case goes into mediation we hope that keeping Alfie alive can prevail so that he can get further treatment.