A family friend of Archie Battersbee has described the 12-year-old's death as "barbaric".
Archie Battersbee has died in hospital after weeks of legal battles. He had been in a coma since April after suffering a catastrophic brain injury, with his parents lodging several appeals to keep his ventilator on.
Today, Archie sadly died after having his life support switched off.
Family friend Ella Carter described Archie having gone "completely blue" before he died.
With tears rolling down her face, Ella said: "He was taken off all medication at 10 o'clock and his stats remained completely stable for two hours."
She added: "He went completely blue.
"There is absolutely nothing dignified about watching a family member or a child suffocate.
"No family should ever have to go through what we've been through, it's barbaric."
The 12-year-old had been in a coma since he was found unconscious by his mother Hollie Dance and was being kept alive by a combination of medical interventions, including ventilation and drug treatments.
Speaking outside the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, Ms Dance said her "beautiful little boy" died at 12.15pm on Saturday.
Archie's parents had fought a long-running legal battle over the withdrawal of treatment and in recent days made bids to the High Court, Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights to have him transferred to a hospice to die.
Announcing her son's death to the media, Ms Dance, of Southend, Essex, said "he fought right until the very end".
Speaking through tears, she said: "Can I just say, I'm the proudest mum in the world.
"He was such a beautiful little boy and he fought right until the very end, and I am so proud to be his mum."
In an interview with Sky News, recorded on Friday, Ms Dance said she was "pretty broken" and that the day had been "absolutely awful".
Breaking down, she said: "The last however many weeks since 7th April, I don't think there's been a day that hasn't been awful really."
Ms Dance added: "It's been really hard. Despite the hard strong face and appearance obviously in front of the cameras up until now, I've been pretty broken."
She said the hospital had made it clear there were no more options and that life support would be withdrawn at 10am on Saturday.
Asked if there was anything more she could do, Ms Dance said: "No. I've done everything that I promised my little boy I'd do. And I've done it."
