Rosario Monachino
Archie Battersbee’s life support is to continue after his parents lodged a High Court appeal to have him moved into hospice care.
The 12-year-old was set to have his ventilator turned off at 11am on Wednesday morning after losing an appeal to the Supreme Court.
However, his parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee put forward another application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) at 9am yesterday but this was rejected.
Watch Archie Battersbee’s family and friends speak to the press outside the hospital…
While this was being considered, Royal London Hospital had been unable to turn off his life support machine – which will now continue as a result of the fresh hospice appeal.
Sky News reported this morning that the family have bid to have Battersbee moved, with a family spokesperson saying: “Archie is now obviously on palliative care so there is no reason whatsoever for him not to take his last moments at a hospice.”
According to Sky News, Barts Health NHS Trust has said ‘Archie’s condition is too unstable for a transfer and that moving him by ambulance to a hospice would most likely hasten the premature deterioration the family wish to avoid, even with full intensive care equipment and staff on the journey’.
The High Court ruled in July that Archie should remain in the care of Royal London Hospital while treatment is withdrawn.
He has been on life support since April after his mum found him unconscious in their home in Southend, Essex.
Archie Battersbee’s Parents Lose Last Minute Appeal To Supreme Court
Reportedly, it was found that Battersbee had a ligature over his head.
The previous applications put forward were not to argue whether pulling his life support would be in his best interest, but rather for them to be considered under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Doctors at Royal London Hospital believe Battersbee is brain-stem dead and that even if he was to be taken off, he would reportedly die in a matter of weeks due to organ and heart failure
However, his parents believe he should not be taken off life support as his heart is still beating and he had previously gripped his mother’s hand.
Dance has also slammed the hospital for the way they have conducted themselves during this time.
She said: “It’s disgraceful, it’s absolutely shameful. Is that the way forward in this country that we are allowed to execute children. Because they have got disabilities?”
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