TIME TO LET ALFIE EVANS DIE.

The case of Alfie Evans, a near 2 year old, is another example of the ridiculous extremes to which our society has become addicted.

Similar to the case of Charlie Gard, Alfie Evans is a seriously ill child who has no chance of recovery. He has been in a coma for many months and has been described as being in a semi-vegetative state, that is, his higher brain function is effectively non-existent. He was given all of the relevant treatment and care until and doctors determined that further treatment would be futile; his parents disagreed and the result has been a protracted and highly publicised legal fight. At every stage, the courts have upheld the medical opinion and agreed that the child's invasive treatment regime should be ended and that he should be allowed to die.

Inevitably a variety of voices have been raised in opposition to these court rulings. The parents have continued to argue their case that treatment should continue, either in England or elsewhere, the Italian government has intervened by declaring that the child has now been made an Italian citizen and should be transferred to a hospital in Rome, and the Pope has also had his say. Hundreds of people have joined in a vociferous campaign, some directing foul abuse at the staff of the hospital where the child still remains.

While I have sympathy for the parents of any sick child, surely any intelligent person knows when time is up. This poor child has no quality of life and no prospect of any; he is almost certainly unaware of what is going on around him. The kind and proper thing to do is to let him fade away, as his doctors now believe is the only sensible option. That his parents and others want something different speaks more for their feelings for themselves than it does for their feelings towards the child. They are, in my view, being grotesquely selfish and are utterly uncaring of the condition of the child,

That some of the most extreme protesters are targeting doctors, nurses and other staff of the hospital with abuse and worse is disgusting; these appalling creatures should be rounded up and deported to some remote place from which escape is impossible. They are a stain on our society and should be permanently separated from it.

As for poor Alfie Evans, he should be allowed to die with what little dignity can be allowed him.