Appeal judges set to rule on Alfie's life-support treatment fight

The parents of a 21-month-old boy are waiting for a ruling by Court of Appeal judges after losing a life-support treatment fight in the High Court.

Mr Justice Hayden ruled in February that doctors could stop treating Alfie Evans, against the wishes of his parents, Kate James and Tom Evans, after analysing the case at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London and Liverpool.

Specialists at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool had asked Mr Justice Hayden to rule that life-support treatment could stop.

The judge said he accepted medical evidence which showed further treatment was futile.

Alfie's parents, who are both in their 20s, have challenged Mr Justice Hayden's ruling and asked the Court of Appeal to consider the case.

Three appeal judges analysed issues at a hearing in London on Thursday and are scheduled to deliver a ruling on Tuesday.

Barrister Stephen Knafler QC, who is leading Alfie's parents' legal team, had told Lord Justice McFarlane, Lord Justice McCombe and Lady Justice King that "the State" had wrongly interfered with "parental choice".

He said Alfie's parents wanted to move him to a hospital in Europe but Mr Justice Hayden's ruling had prevented them from doing that.

Mr Evans said after the hearing that he was hopeful.

Judges have heard that Alfie, who was born on May 9 2016, was in a "semi-vegetative state" and had a degenerative neurological condition doctors had not definitively diagnosed.