Updated Apr 28, 2018

Alfie Evans, toddler at center of major legal battle, dies

Alfie Evans, the terminally ill, British 23-month-old, died early Saturday morning, the Associated Press reports.

The big picture: Evans was the center of a major legal battle concerning the terms of life support, which drew international attention.

His condition

CNN reports that Evans had a degenerative brain condition "associated with severe epilepsy and had been in a semivegetative state for more than a year."
He was being kept alive by "artificial ventilation," per CNN, at the Alder Hey Hospital.

Alfie's parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, wished to continue life support by taking him to a Vatican hospital. Pope Francis commented on Alfie's passing on Saturday, tweeting: "I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace."
Per BBC, the hospital argued that continued treatment for Evans was "unkind, unfair and inhumane."
Britain’s High Court ruled in February that doctors could discontinue life support against the parents‘ wishes, BBC reported. Support was withdrawn on Monday.
The Associated Press reports that tension between the doctors and parents "eased in recent days," as Alfie's father "called for a truce...to give his son 'dignity and comfort.'"