Alfie Evans was a 2-year-old boy who was the center of a 2018 medical battle with strong political coverage. Shortly after he was born Alfie became sick with a mysterious disease, starting with seizures and soon falling into a semi-vegetative state. By early 2018 "almost the entirety of Alfie's brain had been eroded, leaving only water and Cerebral Spinal Fluid".
The UK courts, following the 1989 Children Act, determined that that keeping Alfie alive and in pain on life support indefinitely was "unkind and inhumane", and ordered that he be allowed to die. This might have been broadly accepted if it had simply been a case of the government paying for health care, and so deciding which health care to provide. But this decision went a bit further, stating that not only would the UK government not continue to keep Alfie alive, but also that the parents could not transport him to another country for treatment, as this would not be in Alfie's best interest. The Bambino Gesù Hospital in Vatican City had offered to provide treatment, meaning that this was clearly and unequivocally a case of the government saying "you do not get to make hard decisions for your child: we do."
This has been a major political issue in the UK, and has been a fairly significant political issue among the American right, as it allows them to argue against socialized medicine.
Alfie Evans died April 28, 2018 at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, West Derby, Liverpool.