Judge endorses end-of-life care plan for Alfie Evans

A High Court judge has endorsed an end-of-life care plan for a 23-month-old boy who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment battle.

Mr Justice Hayden said the details of provisions for the final stage of Alfie Evans' life could not be made public.

Alfie's parents, Tom Evans and Kate James from Liverpool, have lost treatment fights in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights.

In February, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that doctors at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool could stop treating Alfie against the wishes of his parents following hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London and Liverpool.

On Wednesday he endorsed a detailed plan put forward by Alder Hey doctors for withdrawing life-support treatment during a follow-up hearing in London.

The judge said detail of that plan could not be revealed because Alfie was entitled to privacy at the end of his life.

He has heard that Alfie, born on May 9 2016, is in a "semi-vegetative state" and has a degenerative neurological condition doctors had not definitively diagnosed.

Specialists at Alder Hey said life-support treatment should stop and Mr Justice Hayden said he accepted medical evidence which showed that further treatment was futile.

Court of Appeal judges upheld his ruling.

Supreme Court justices and European Court of Human Rights judges have refused to intervene.

Alfie's parents, who are in their 20s, have complained that "the state" is wrongly interfering with their parental choice.

They want to move Alfie to a hospital in Rome or Germany.

Neither were at Wednesday's hearing.