Despite reported meetings yesterday between Alder Hey Hospital staff, MEP Steven Woolfe and Alfie's parents that seemed to signal the hospital would consider allowing Alfie to be treated abroad, this was posted by his mother last night.
The family's lawyer has sent a letter to the hospital indicating that a hospital in Milan is willing to offer a second medical opinion and they expect the Vatican's hospital to do the same shortly. According to the mother's Facebook post, they have company willing to transport him as required.
One really has to question the motives of Alder Hey at this point. No one looking in from the outside calls what they are doing anything other than the most severe form of healthcare rationing imaginable. Why would they so vigorously oppose another facility caring for and examining the child? Who is so certain of their own infallible judgement that they would prefer to suffocate a child rather than allow a fresh look at his condition? Terrifying.
Their drive to control the language by calling the withdrawal of life sustaining treatment 'palliative care" should also be roundly rejected. What they are proposing is as compassionate as a frustrated caregiver holding a pillow over the face of an elderly, infirm patient to relieve themselves of the burden of care.
This is not healthcare. It is quite possibly the most barbaric form of resource management we have witnessed in a developed nation. Alder Hey should absolutely release Alfie to the facilities in Italy that have extended an offer. All they are really seeking is an empty hospital bed and releasing him preserves life and opens up their scarce resources.
