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It was a legal decision Hollie Dance hoped she wouldn’t hear, ITV News’ Sejal Karia has the latest
Court of Appeal judges have rejected an appeal by the family of Archie Battersbee, the 12-year-old boy at the center of a court battle over his life-support treatment.
Archie’s parents Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, from Southend, Essex, launched the appeal after a High Court judge ruled doctors could legally stop the treatment.
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, rejected the appeal on Monday , ruling that doctors could stop life-sustaining treatment. .
Judges had asked to adjourn their sentence after they were told Archie’s father fell ill shortly before the hearing and went to hospital.
A lawyer representing Archie’s parents said his mother thought her son had been trying to breathe on his own.
Sir Andrew, in a detailed ruling on the appeal bid, said medical staff had seen “no signs of life” in Archie.
He said the case had received extensive media coverage, including a photograph of Archie.
“Archie is no longer the boy in the photograph,” said Sir Andrew. “He is someone whose bodily functions are now maintained by artificial means.”
Since then, his family has indicated that they would not give up and intended to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Archie suffered “catastrophic” brain damage in an accident at home three months ago.
Lawyers for the family argued last week that Judge Hayden had not given “real or proper weight” to Archie’s previously expressed wishes and religious beliefs, nor had he given “real or proper weight” to the wishes of the Archie’s family.
Barrister Edward Devereux QC also said the judge had not made a “comprehensive assessment” of the benefits and burdens of continued life-support treatment; and he had been wrong to conclude that the treatment was heavy and useless.
They were appealing to the Court of Appeal to have the decision sent back to the High Court for a third time.
Judge Hayden delivered a decision on July 15 after reviewing the evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
He described what happened to Archie as a “tragedy of immeasurable proportions” but said the medical evidence was “convincing and unanimous” and painted a “bleak” picture.
Judge Hayden heard how Ms Dance found Archie unconscious with a bandage on his head on April 7. She thinks she may have participated in an online challenge.
The young man has not regained consciousness.
Archie Battersbee’s parents Paul Battersbee and Hollie Dancen at the Royal Courts of Justice. Credit: PA
Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, believe he is “brain dead” and say continued life-support treatment is not in his best interest.
Archie’s parents disagree and say that his heart is beating. They are supported by a campaign group called the Christian Legal Centre.
Lawyers representing the Royal London Hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, had called for decisions on which medical moves are in Archie’s best interests.
Archie Battersbee, 12, is at the center of a legal dispute Credit: Family Leaflet/PA
Another High Court judge, Ms Justice Arbuthnot, initially considered the case and concluded, after an earlier hearing, that Archie was dead.
But Court of Appeal judges upheld a challenge by Archie’s parents against the decisions made by Mr Justice Arbuthnot and said the evidence should be reviewed.
Judge Hayden said the evidence showed Archie suffered “significant injury” to “multiple areas” of his brain and that he had not “regained consciousness at any time”. He said the reality of Archie’s case was “terrible”.
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