The father of sick toddler Alfie Evans says there will be a meeting with doctors later to discuss taking his son home.
Tom Evans told reporters outside Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool that his son no longer needs to be in intensive care.
Judges on Wednesday rejected appeals made by Alfie’s parents to allow him to be taken to Italy for treatment.
Mr Evans and Kate James made applications to the Court of Appeal after a High Court judge ruled they could take their son home from the hospital, but not abroad.
Doctors say the toddler has a rare degenerative neurological condition and is considered to be in a semi-vegetative state.
“We got rejected yesterday to go to Italy unfortunately,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“We could take it further but would that be the right thing to do, would there be more criticism?
:: Timeline: The fight to keep Alfie Evans alive
“So what we do today is we have a meeting with the doctors at Alder Hey and we now start asking to go home.”
He added: “Alfie doesn’t need intensive care any more. Alfie is lying on the bed with one litre of oxygen going into his lungs and the rest is him. Some people say it’s a miracle, it’s not a miracle, it’s a misdiagnosis.”
:: Alfie Evans: Appeal court hearing ‘extraordinary and tragic’
Mr Evans said his son has been off a ventilator for three days and is showing no signs of deterioration.
“He hasn’t woke up, he’s still a little bit weak but what we ask for is to go home to sustain his life,” he said.
He added Alfie was “still fighting” and was “comfortable” and “content” with a stable heart rate.
He said Alder Hey doctors could be “wrong” and added: “Alfie lives, comfortably, happily, without ventilation, without any form of ventilation.
“That must be enough for you now to consider that Alfie may prove you wrong.”
Mr Evans said the family did have “appeals to explore” – but that their priority was to get Alfie home before they decide on their next steps.
:: Court rejects Alfie Evans appeal as hospital trust speaks of staff being ‘abused’
“All I ask for now is for this meeting to be a positive one and I hope to have Alfie, on the terms of mine and Alder Hey, to be home within a day or two.
“If the meeting doesn’t go well today, well then I’ll go back to court. As I sit next to Alfie’s bedside, every second of every day, it encourages me more and more that he will live for ‘x’ amount of months, possibly years.”
He said he hoped to be able to make arrangements with the hospital to get a care plan in place today, and that he was already trained to do most things but there were a few other procedures to learn.
“Get Alfie home, please,” he said.
Speaking on Wednesday at the hearing, which the toddler’s parents did not attend due to their desire to stay by their son’s bedside, Lord Justice McFarlane said the decision to block him travelling to Italy for treatment was the correct one.
“This is awful for everyone concerned. We are in the middle of palliative care plan at Alder Hey Hospital,” he said.
“I can see no basis that judgment was wrong.”
The ruling came hours after life support ended for the youngster, who was granted Italian citizenship this week to facilitate a move to Rome for treatment.
The trust for the hospital in Liverpool has since spoken of the “barrage of highly abusive and threatening” language and behaviour towards medical staff treating the toddler, who has a rare degenerative neurological condition and is considered to be in a semi-vegetative state.
“Our staff have received in person, via phone calls, email, and through social media channels a barrage of highly abusive and threatening language and behaviour that has shocked us all,” it said.
“Worse still, patients and visitors to Alder Hey have also reported abuse.”
Michael Mylonas, the hospital trust’s lawyer, said on Wednesday that there was “no new medical evidence” to contradict the evidence given before the High Court in February.
He said Alfie continuing to breathe was “not a change in circumstances” and added: “It was never suggested that death would be instantaneous.
“In fact, to the contrary, the evidence had been that when previously extubated he survived. It has never been said to this family that Alfie would die immediately or before sundown.
“No doctor could have said that.”
The lawyer said the “tragedy” for the parents was that Alfie appeared as if he was a normal child.
Mr Evans’ lawyer, Paul Diamond, said: “We say the order of Mr Justice Hayden was simply to remove life-sustaining equipment because there is no medical cure.
“We say when we enter a situation where the individual continues to breathe we have to amend that care plan.
“We cannot allow a situation like that to continue in a British hospital.”
The court also heard how Mr Evans had sought to bring a private prosecution against three doctors with the charge of conspiracy to murder.
The case has drawn international attention, with the Pope pledging support to the family, and has sparked demonstrations outside the hospital in Liverpool.
From – SkyNews