I genitori di Harvey Morrison parlano dopo la morte del figlio

Even before he was born into the world, Harvey Morrison was fighting for his life. His parents Gillian and Stephen were told during her first scans that their unborn son had spina bifida and would probably not survive birth.

“The hospital kept mentioning termination. They kept saying, ‘You’re only young, it’s your first child, you can go again. This will be a burden on you for the rest of your life.’ Harvey was anything but a burden,” Gillian said.

When she had her 36-week scan, it was suggested it might be best if they made the baby comfortable and let him pass when he was born as he might not survive. Gillian made her way home distraught. “I felt under pressure to give up on him before he was even born.”

That night she and Stephen promised to do whatever it took to help their son. “We went back in and told them to do everything medically possible to keep him alive,” Stephen said. “He changed us as human beings. He shaped us morally. He just changed who we were.”

The Morrisons are grieving the loss of their eldest son, whose unexpected death on July 29 has provoked public outrage. For years, they had fought in vain to secure better services, healthcare and surgery for Harvey’s scoliosis. #Justiceforharvey has been trending all week.

The way this article is written, you’d swear it was a tragic story that could have happened to anyone and not that these two people and their son were badly failed by the state.

Plenty of media outlets are willing to tell Harvey’s story now it’s all over social media, but hardly any are interested in investigating the failures in our health service or holding the people responsible to account.