Archie Battersbee: parents fail to stop planned withdrawal of life support treatment

Read More

A last-minute attempt by the parents of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee to stop the withdrawal of his life support treatment has been rejected by the UK’s supreme court.

On Monday, the court of appeal set a deadline of midday on Tuesday beyond which Archie’s treatment could be ceased.

Hollie Dance, 46, and Paul Battersbee, 57, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, had sought a lengthier postponement but the court of appeal judges had granted only a limited extension to make an application to the supreme court to appeal against their decision.

However, on Tuesday morning, a panel of judges at the UK’s highest court refused permission to appeal.

Their decision means Archie’s parents have exhausted all legal avenues and his life support treatment at the Royal London hospital, in Whitechapel, can be ceased from Tuesday afternoon.

It brings to an end their legal fight against Barts NHS trust for Archie to be allowed to die as “natural” a death as possible.

Their son has been in a coma since suffering a catastrophic brain injury on 7 April. Dance believes it resulted from Archie choking while taking part in a viral social media challenge.

In May, a high court judge agreed with doctors at the Royal London that it was in Archie’s best interests for life support treatment to be withdrawn.

His parents successfully appealed against the decision and the case was sent back to the high court to be heard by a different judge but they reached the same conclusion last month.

Permission to appeal against that decision was refused by the court of appeal. A stay applied to the second high court judge’s decision was extended after Archie’s father was taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack or stroke and to allow for further avenues of appeal, both domestically and internationally.

But the supreme court’s decision on Tuesday means Archie’s parents must now prepare themselves for the imminent death of their son who had an “infectious enthusiasm for life”.