Archie Battersbee’s parents fail in bid to persuade Supreme Court to intervene in fight to keep him alive after Court of Appeal judges ruled life support treatment should be switched off
- BREAKING: Archie Battersbee’s parents have lost their bid to the Supreme Court
- 12-year-old Archie has been at the centre of legal battle to keep his life support
- Court of Appeal upheld High Court decision to stop mechanical intervention
- Today, his parents’ plea to the Supreme Court to overturn decision was rejected
- Archie, of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, suffered brain damage at home on April 7
The parents of a 12-year-old boy left in a comatose state after suffering brain damage have failed to persuade the Supreme Court to intervene in a life-support treatment battle.
Archie Battersbee’s mother and father, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, had asked Supreme Court justices to give them more time to carry on their fight.
Ms Dance and Mr Battersbee want the United Nations to consider the case after losing life-support treatment fights in London courts.
They wanted Supreme Court justices to bar hospital bosses from stopping life-support treatment until they have had time to make an application to the UN.
But three justices today refused their application.
Archie’s parents had mounted an appeal bid and said Mr Justice Hayden had made errors after the High Court hearing.
Archie Battersbee and his father Paul Battersbee, who are from Southend-on-Sea in Essex
Paul Battersbee and Hollie Dance outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London last Friday
A Supreme Court spokeswoman said in a statement: ‘This afternoon, 28 July 2022, the Supreme Court received an urgent permission to appeal (PTA) application in the case of Archie Battersbee.
‘The parents of Archie Battersbee filed their application to appeal to the Supreme Court earlier today. They were seeking a stay of the Court of Appeal’s decision to allow withdrawal of life-support treatment from their child.
‘Aware of the urgency of this matter, the court convened a panel of three justices who considered submissions from the parties ‘on paper’, in the usual way.
‘Having considered the careful judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered by Sir Andrew MacFarlane (president of the Family Division) and the application for permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in relation to the stay, the panel has refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.’
Ms Dance found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7 and believes that he might have been taking part in an online challenge. He has never regained consciousness since then.
Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel think he is brain-stem dead and say continued life-support treatment is not in his best interests.
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.
Archie’s mother, Hollie Dance, previously told media: ‘It feels wrong that the Court of Appeal have tried to force us down a road which they know will fail and have taken away our rights of taking the case to the UN.
‘All we have asked for from the beginning is for Archie to be given more time and for Archie’s wishes and ours to be respected. As long as Archie is alive, I will never give up on him, he is too good to give up on.
‘When he is to die, we believe it should be in God’s way and in God’s time. What is the rush? Why is the hospital and the courts so keen to push this through as fast as possible?
Archie was found with a ligature over his head in April and has not regained consciousness
Archie with his mother Hollie Dance (left), brother Tom Summers and sister Lauren Summers
Another High Court judge, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, initially considered the case and concluded that Archie – who has never regained consciousness – was dead.
But Court of Appeal judges upheld a challenge by his parents against decisions taken by that judge and said the evidence should be reviewed by Mr Justice Hayden.
Mr Battersbee, who is in his 50s, was feared to have suffered a heart attack or stroke outside a courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday.
But a spokesman for campaign group the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the family, said today that Mr Battersbee had now left hospital.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘The pace at which this case is running is troubling and there appears to be an unexplained urgency from the hospital and courts to end life support for Archie.
‘There needs to be a wholesale review of how the system works in this kind of case. Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee are remarkable in the way in which they have advocated for their son.’
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