Archie Battersbee's Family Set Appeal Judge's Ruling That He's Dead
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The family of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee are set to appeal a High Court ruling that the schoolboy is dead and life-sustaining treatment should be stopped.
Archie has been treated in Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel for the past number of weeks after he was found unconscious with a ligature around his neck in his Essex home in April.
The young boy's mum Hollie Dance and dad Paul Battersbee believe that Archie might have been participating in an online 'black out' challenge at the time.
Last week, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot ruled that doctors at Royal London Hospital could stop providing treatment for his brain damage, finding that the young boy "died at noon on May 31, 2022".
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said in her ruling: "I give permission to the medical professionals at the Royal London Hospital to cease to ventilate mechanically Archie Battersbee."
The court had heart from doctors at the Royal London Hospital that it was "highly likely" Archie was "brain-stem dead".
Despite the ruling, Archie's parents maintain that their son is still alive and have called for hospital treatment to continue.
Speaking to the Guardian, Archie's mum said her family would be going ahead with an appeal against the judge's ruling, as they claimed to have seen small signs that the boy's health is improving, and believe the judge made "quite a few mistakes".
She said: "Archie should be given a lot longer. There are Covid patients who get six months to a year and are on ventilators struggling for their life. Archie has had eight very short weeks and we have been in and out of court."
Ms Dance also recently noted that her son has been "responding to music and smell" while unconscious, offering the family a "glimmer of hope" the Archie will make a full recovery.
Speaking to The Mirror, she said: "His blood pressure went up, so we put on a deep-breathing meditation recording and put lavender oil under his nose and within 10 minutes his blood pressure dropped to normal levels.
"It’s a glimmer of hope. He’s in there and he’s going to wake up, he just needs time. All I want is for them to give him time to heal."
The family are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre in their appeal.
A spokesperson for the organisation confirmed that Archie's family would be attending a High Court hearing to ask Judge Arbuthnot to give them permission to mount their appeal.
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