The parents of terminally ill British infant Alfie Evans, were on Wednesday planning to appeal a High Court judge’s decision preventing them from taking the boy to Italy for treatment.
The appeal came two days after doctors withdrew life support.
“We’re about to appeal. We want to go to Italy. Everyone’s ready, Alfie’s ready,’’ the boy’s 21-year-old father, Thomas Evans, told reporters.
“Even if we don’t achieve our aim to get to Italy, then the judge is still offering us a chance to get him home and if we can do that then that can be done in the next couple of hours,’’ he said.
The judge ruled earlier that the 23-month-old boy could return home subject to the agreement of a care plan with doctors at the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.
But the hospital told the judge that hostility towards medical staff made it “impossible’’ to move the child immediately, British media reported.
Lawyers from the Christian Legal Centre, representing Alfie’s parents, argued that the child’s best interests would be served by allowing him to travel to Italy for treatment.
The infant, who has an undiagnosed degenerative neurological condition, has breathed largely unaided since the hospital withdrew life support on Monday.
Pope Francis has supported the parents after meeting Thomas Evans at the Vatican earlier.
The Italian Foreign Ministry on Monday said that it had granted Italian citizenship to the child, in the hope that this would allow him to be moved to a hospital in Italy. (dpa/NAN)