Who Was Alfie Evans?
Alfie Evans had a degenerative neurological condition, which caused him to have breathing difficulties. When he was just six months old, he went to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where he was placed on a ventilator, which he remained on for almost a year.
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Consequences of the Alfie Evans Case
Ethics Of The Alfie Evans Case:
Ethical principles demonstrated in this case include:
- Alfie was a child; hence, his parents made decisions regarding his health.
- The hospital argued that the parents' decision was not in Alfie’s best interest by the 1989 Children’s Act.
Best Interest
- The Supreme Court ruled that Alfie’s best interests would be to die with “peace, quiet and privacy.”
Justice
- End-of-life care is costly. Each year on life support would be 0.1 QALY (quality-adjusted life years), which equates to approximately 150000 pounds a year. The cost per QALY is around 2 million pounds, much higher than the 30000 pounds recommended by NICE. The resources used for one patient may improve the lives of many other patients if spent in different healthcare areas. However, much money was raised privately, meaning the funds could not be redistributed.
Medical Schools Ethics Question: Alfie Evans
We will now examine an example interview question. You are unlikely to be asked to simply describe the case; instead, you will be expected to use cases like this one as an example.
Example Question:
What are the effects of social media on high-profile cases in the NHS?
Model Answer:
Alfie Evan’s case is an example of a high-profile case in the media. He had a degenerative neurological condition and was on a ventilator. The parents wanted to keep him on life support, but the hospital took the case to the High Court, and this ultimately ended in the court ruling with the hospital and Alfie’s life support being turned off. This case was a significant news story, with the family even meeting the pope about moving Alfie to Italy for continued life support.
Public members joined Alfie’s Army social media campaign, resulting in followers congregating regularly outside the hospital. This resulted in staff feeling intimidated and often facing abuse from the protesters. The police launched an investigation following this; however, staff recruitment at the hospital was reduced due to the nature of the incidents. There was low morale among teams at the time as the medical professionals were treated in a hostile manner by the public. There were also internet theories that said the withdrawal of treatment was cost-driven–even though this was not proven and resulted in mistrust by the public of the NHS.
I believe social media can have various effects in high-profile cases, such as the Alfie Evan case. It resulted in staff feeling unsafe in their workplace. Though it was nice to see the community come together in this case, some hostile behaviour resulted in the police being involved. Plus, due to confidentiality requirements by medical professionals, the public felt that they weren’t receiving all the information, leading to public mistrust.
While this answer doesn’t cover all of the points of the case, it doesn’t need to. An answer like this is detailed enough to demonstrate your understanding of the case while providing your own personal insight and answering the question effectively.
Whether you’re being asked a general question like this or a question more specific to a case, this approach will ensure you have provided a satisfactory response.
This is a slightly older case, so I suggest researching more recent examples of stories with heavy themes of ethics. They may not have been as impactful as this case was, but they still demonstrate that you follow the news and have an interest in the current state of medicine. We also have a whole selection of medical ethics guides and case studies available for free, so be sure to check them out!
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