Shock: UK hospital spent over $188,000 on legal counsel to kill Alfie Evans

Almost two months ago, little Alfie Evans passed away. At nine months old, Alfie began having seizures, and then caught a chest infection at the hospital. He had to be placed on a ventilator and doctors didn’t think Alfie would make it, but the little boy pulled through and was able to have the ventilator removed. Unfortunately, he then caught another chest infection, and Alfie had to be placed back on life support.

Alfie was said to be in a “semi-vegetative state” and was believed to have encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. However, no official diagnosis was made, and doctors claimed medical care for him would be futile. This kicked off a months-long legal battle in which Alfie’s parents fought desperately for their son’s life, hoping to take him out of the United Kingdom to receive health care. They raised money for his care, found air ambulance companies willing to transport him, and a Vatican hospital, Bambino Jesu, willing to take Alfie in. Even Pope Francis repeatedly asked for Alfie to be released.

Meanwhile, Alfie had his life support removed. Doctors had originally predicted that he would die within minutes of having his ventilator removed, but he breathed on his own for days. Cruelly, the hospital initially deprived him of food, water, and oxygen as Alfie struggled to survive, and his parents fought for him. But it was all in vain; the courts ruled against Alfie’s parents every time, and on April 28th, they announced that he had passed away.

Alfie’s parents have been mostly quiet since then. But now, Alfie’s father, Tom Evans, is breaking his silence.

READ: Father of Alfie Evans: ‘Not even an animal would be treated like this’

Evans took to Facebook to warn that he and Alfie’s mother, Kate, would soon be coming forward with the details of how and why Alfie died. “It’s been 1 month and 2 weeks since our gladiator was taking away from us, deprived, neglected, mistreated, and disrespected!!” he wrote. “Me and Kate will never come to terms with it and will never accept alfies death or cause of death!” He added that the memories they have with Alfie, and their faith that they would see him again one day, is what is keeping them going. But he also told his supporters that they will tell the world what happened to their son:

READ: Alfie Evans’ father vows ‘private prosecution’ of medical team

He also wrote a reminder that doctors predicted Alfie would die within five minutes, and that Alfie instead fought on for five days — and instead of helping Alfie, the hospital spent money on legal counsel to ensure his death. “He should have been giving [sic] respect, care, and decency!” he wrote. “Instead they paid £143k on murdering my son and taking our lives away from us!”

That equals over $188,000 USD, an amount that Evans was able to determine thanks to a freedom of information inquiry which disclosed that Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust had spent the money on fighting to kill Alfie.

Sarah Evans, Alfie’s aunt, expressed her disgust with the news last week. “Over £145 to kill my nephew?!” she wrote. “We had a hospital. We had the money to take him elsewhere. We had the plane ready. We had Alfie fighting, and they paid this to kill him? Ask yourselves why.” She also wrote that the hospital made their final moments with Alfie burdensome and uncomfortable:

READ: Alfie Evans is just the latest victim in Europe’s culture of death

Alder Hey Hospital came under addition scrutiny during the Alfie Evans scandal when it came to light that the hospital had also been caught selling the organs of living children to a vaccination research firm, and also stockpiled the organs of deceased children without their parents’ knowledge or consent. More recently, the hospital failed to meet “four of five national standards checked by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission.”

Evans has vowed that he will continue to fight for Alfie, and will get justice for his son. The information he reveals may end up being another major scandal for Alder Hey.