The family of Archie Battersbee family has been told that his life-sustaining treatment will be withdrawn from 10am on Saturday (August 6), campaign group Christian Concern has said. Barts Health NHS Trust said its position remains the same in that no changes will be made to Archie’s care “until the outstanding legal issues are resolved”.
Mum Hollie Dance and dad Paul Battersbee had spent Friday challenging the High Court ruling made in the morning. That judgement stated that the boy should remain in hospital while his life-sustaining treatment is withdrawn.
Mrs Justice Theis said: “Archie’s best interests must remain at the core of any conclusions reached by this court. When considering the wishes of the family, why those wishes are held, the facilities at the hospice, what Archie is likely to have wanted, … the risks involved in a transfer … and the increasing fragility of his medical condition, I am satisfied that when looking at the balancing exercise again his best interests remain as set out (in the ruling of July 15), that he should remain at the hospital when treatment is withdrawn.
“The circumstances outlined by Dr F of the physical arrangements at the hospital and the arrangements that can be made will ensure that Archie’s best interest will remain the focus of the final arrangements to enable him peacefully and privately to die in the embrace of the family he loved. The parents in the email from their solicitors on August 2 confirmed, in principle, their willingness to co-operate in these arrangements.”
The judge refused permission to appeal against her ruling, after lawyers for the family requested it. The family then said it would pursue a challenge directly with the Court of Appeal, but the judges considering the application concluded: “In all respects, Theis J’s judgment deals comprehensively with each of the points raised on behalf of the parents.
"We have reached the clear conclusion that each of her decisions was right for the reasons she gave. It follows that the proposed appeal has no prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear an appeal.”
The last course of action that the family had specified was an application to the European Court of Human Rights.
Doctors treating the schoolboy for the last four months declared Archie to be “brain-stem dead”, prompting a lengthy but ultimately failed legal battle by his family to continue his life support treatment in the hope he would recover.
