Doctors can lawfully stop providing life-support treatment to 12-year-old Archie Battersbee, who is in a comatose state after suffering “catastrophic” brain damage three months ago, appeal judges have ruled. Three Court of Appeal judges on Friday finished hearing arguments about what moves are in Archie Battersbee’s best interests at a hearing in London.
Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the Family Division of the High Court and the most senior family court judge in England and Wales, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Peter Jackson delivered a ruling on Monday.
Judges had been asked to postpone the ruling but refused.
A lawyer representing Archie’s parents said his mother Hollie Dance thought her son had been trying to breathe independently.
Judges were also told that Archie’s father had been taken ill shortly before the appeal court hearing and had gone to hospital, but the judges did not allow this to delay their ruling.
Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, mounted an appeal bid after a High Court judge ruled that doctors could lawfully stop treatment. Mr Justice Hayden delivered a ruling recently after reviewing evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
He described what had happened to Archie as a “tragedy of immeasurable dimensions”, but said medical evidence was “compelling and unanimous” and painted a “bleak” picture. Archie’s parents, who are separated, said he made errors and wanted appeal judges to remit the case to another High Court judge for a another hearing.
Judges have heard how medical evidence shows that Archie is in a “comatose state”.
Barrister Edward Devereux QC, who is leading the legal team for Archie’s parents, argued at the appeal hearing that Mr Justice Hayden had not given “real or proper weight” to Archie’s previously expressed wishes and religious beliefs; not given “real or proper weight” to Archie’s family’s wishes; failed to carry out a “comprehensive evaluation” of the benefits and burdens of continuing life-support treatment; and had been wrong to conclude that treatment was burdensome and futile.
Judges have heard how Ms Dance found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7. She thinks he may have been taking part in an online challenge.
The youngster has not regained consciousness. Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, think he is brain-stem dead and say continued life-support treatment is not in his best interests. His parents disagree.
Bosses at the hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, had asked for decisions on what medical moves were in Archie’s best interests. Another High Court judge, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, initially considered the case and concluded that Archie was dead.
But Court of Appeal judges upheld a challenge by his parents against decisions taken by Mrs Justice Arbuthnot and said the evidence should be reviewed by Mr Justice Hayden.
