Archie Battersbee dies in hospital after life support switched off on Saturday morning
06.08.2022 - 16:07
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Archie Battersbee has died in hospital just hours after his life support was switched off on Saturday morning.
The 12-year-old schoolboy had been in a coma since April when he suffered a catastrophic brain injury.
His parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, announced that Archie died at 12.15pm on Saturday, outside the hospital where he was receiving treatment.
Doctors told his parents that Archie was left brain-stem dead after the incident, and argued that continuing his life-support treatment was not in his best interests.
Judges refused to stop doctors from ending his care despite several court actions launched by Hollie Paul. In recent days during the legal battle, they made bids to the High Court, Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights to have him transferred to a hospice to die.
The pair, who are separated but both live in Southend, Essex, applied to the Court of Appeal on Friday after losing a High Court bid to have him moved to a hospice before his life-sustaining treatment was withdrawn.
Shortly after 6.30pm on the same day, the Court of Appeal confirmed that permission to appeal had been refused. No changes were made to Archie's care until all outstanding legal issues were resolved.
His parents were involved in a long-running legal battle over the withdrawal of treatment but this ultimately failed on Wednesday when the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in that initial battle.
After the ruling, Hollie and Paul shifted their focus to trying to get their son moved to a hospice and argued they should be able to decide where their son took his last breath. Their request was refused in a ruling at the High Court on Friday morning when Mrs Justice This concluded it was not in Archie's