Archie Battersbee’s life support will be turned off tomorrow after final appeal fails
Archie Battersbee’s life support will be turned off tomorrow – after a last ditch appeal ruled in favour of doctors over the boy’s family.
A Court of Appeal hearing took place today after the government asked judges to reconsider a request to keep treating the 12-year-old.
In written submissions to the court, Edward Devereux QC, acting for Archie’s parents, said their request to continue treatment should be ‘binding’ under international law.
But in his ruling, Sir Andrew McFarlane referred to medical evidence that Archie’s life-sustaining treatment should be withdrawn.
The judge said: ‘In short, his system, his organs and, ultimately, his heart are in the process of closing down.
‘The options before the court have always been stark.’
The youngster had been due to have his life support, at the Royal London Hospital, switched off at 2pm today.
That time has been extended to noon tomorrow after today’s appeal.
Archie’s parents have said they will challenge the Court of Appeal ruling.
Speaking outside The Royal London Hospital, his mother Hollie Dance, said: ‘We made a promise to Archie, we will fight to the end. And Archie’s still fighting.
‘If tomorrow’s the last day then so be it, but we will be applying to the Supreme Court.’
She added: ‘And I say, and I still stand by it, Archie’s best interests would be to allow that child time to recover. If he doesn’t recover he doesn’t recover, but give him time to recover.”
His mother’s urgent plea came after High Court judges ruled that switching off his life support would be in Archie’s best interests.
Speaking ahead of today’s hearing, Ms Dance had described the last couple of months as an ‘an emotional rollercoaster’.
‘It’s been very draining,’ said his mother.
‘Stress levels are through the roof. Very heart-breaking. It’s been a very hard few months.’
Ms Dance had added: ‘It’s just left me feeling very anxious all weekend. I’ve carried a lot of anxiety here in my chest. It just feels awful.’
Archie’s family had claimed stopping treatment would be in breach of the UK’s obligations under international human rights law.
But doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, had said he was ‘brain-stem dead’.
Ms Dance and Archie’s father, Paul Battersbee, had received a letter from the Barts Health NHS Trust over the weekend in advance of today.
It read: ‘We understand that any discussions around the withdrawal of Archie’s treatment are very difficult and painful.
‘However, we want to ensure that you and your family are involved as much as you wish to be.’
The letter went on: ‘You or any of the family may wish to lie on Archie’s bed with him or have him in your arms, if that should be practically possible.’
Ms Dance told Sky News the letter described ‘the choreographed execution’ of Archie.
The legal battle surrounding 12-year-old’s treatment has stretched on for weeks.
Archie had been found unconscious at home in Southend, Essex, on April 7.
Ms Dance fears he may have been taking part in an online challenge that led him to collapse.
Despite the best efforts of medical staff, Archie has never regained consciousness.
The 12-year-old’s case could result in a change in the way similar incidents are dealt with in the future, an expert suggested this morning.
Baroness Ilora Finlay, a professor of palliative medicine, told Times Radio: ‘I’m hoping that by the end of the summer we’ll have an inquiry into different ways of handling these very, very difficult cases so that there is independent mediation.
‘And I say independent because, if it’s supplied by the hospital, or it’s supplied by the parents, one side may feel mistrustful of the other.
‘But to be in the situation of adversarial conflict doesn’t help anybody. The parents don’t want to go to court.
‘The doctors don’t want to go to court. The managers don’t want to go to court.’
The latest intervention, which led to this morning’s hearing, had come from the Government Legal Department.
It followed a UN Committee On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities request to keep Archie alive so it could consider his case, which came after a request to them from his family.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.