Archie Battersbee’s parents lose Supreme Court bid to block withdrawal of life support

The parents of brain-damaged 12-year-old Archie Battersbee have lost a Supreme Court bid to block the withdrawal of his life-sustaining treatment.

The country’s top court has dismissed the family’s application to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision yesterday to remove his life support.

His parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, have sought to extend his treatment to allow time for a United Nations committee to consider the child’s case.

This afternoon, a panel of three Supreme Court judges refused permission for Ms Dance and Mr Battersbee to appeal, as they concluded the Court of Appeal “made the correct decision”.

The panel said that while they have “great sympathy with the plight of Archie‘s devoted parents who face a circumstance that is every parent’s nightmare – the loss of a much-loved child… there is no prospect of any meaningful recovery (by Archie)”.

“Even if life-sustaining treatment were to be maintained, Archie would die in the course of the next few weeks through organ failure and then heart failure.”

They added: “The maintenance of the medical regime, as (Mr Justice Hayden at the High Court) held in his very sympathetic judgment, ‘serves only to protract his death’.”

His parents had been granted a last-minute hearing at the Court of Appeal on Monday after the government asked it to urgently consider a request from the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to keep treating Archie.

But after considering the case, appeal court judges refused to postpone the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment by Barts Health NHS Trust and said there would be a short stay put in place until 12pm today.

Archie has been at the centre of a lengthy legal dispute since he was seriously injured in an incident at his home in Southend, Essex, in April.

Ms Dance found her son unconscious with a ligature over his head. She believes he took part in an online challenge.

He has been in a coma ever since and has not regained consciousness.

He is being kept alive by a combination of medical interventions, including ventilation and drug treatments.

The High Court previously ruled Archie’s treatment should come to an end because doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, said he was “brain-stem dead”.

The Court of Appeal upheld that decision and the Supreme Court refused to give the family more time to carry on their fight.

His family insisted the treatment should continue, saying the youngster’s heart was still beating and he had gripped his mother’s hand.

His parents claim that stopping treatment would be in breach of the UK’s obligations under Articles 10 and 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children.

These international obligations say states must take all necessary measures to ensure disabled people enjoy equal rights and that governments should do all they can to prevent the deaths of children and young people.