Alfie Evans breathing on his own

UPDATE: Judge Anthony Hayden has denied a final appeal to Alfie Evans’ family after holding another hearing Tuesday afternoon. An Italian Embassy official appeared in court, and a lawyer for the Evanses told the judge that an air ambulance was standing by to take Alfie to Italy for treatment, The Guardian’s Josh Halladay reported. But the judge ruled against it, calling his decision “the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy.”

UPDATE (11:57 a.m.): A judge granted the family of Alfie Evans, a toddler with a degenerative neurological condition, a new hearing Tuesday after the 23-month-old breathed on his own for hours after doctors discontinued his life support Monday. Judge Anthony Hayden said he would hear a new appeal from Alfie’s parents to transfer him to a hospital in Rome on the grounds that Italy has granted the child citizenship.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (10:10 a.m.): Alfie Evans, the British toddler doctors said would die without ongoing medical intervention, started to breathe on his own after doctors disconnected his life support systems Monday. The 23-month-old diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition, survived for six hours without assistance, prompting doctors to give him oxygen and hydration. Tom Evans, Alfie’s father, announced the unexpected development Tuesday, describing the doctors as “gobsmacked.” “He is still working, he’s doing as good as he can but we do need him to be supported in the next hour. It’s going to be hard,” Evans told supporters and reporters gathered outside Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. Evans and Kate James, Alfie’s mother, have waged a monthslong court battle to prevent the hospital from turning off their son’s life support. Doctors insisted he should be “allowed” to die. Evans and James want to have their son transferred to a Catholic hospital in Rome willing to treat him, but British courts refused, calling further treatment futile. Alfie is in a semi-vegetative state stemming from a condition doctors still haven’t been able to identify.