Relatives of a 12-year-old boy at the centre of a life-support treatment case have won a Court of Appeal fight. Archie Battersbee's parents had asked for a review after a High Court judge concluded that the youngster was dead.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot recently ruled that doctors could lawfully stop providing treatment to Archie, after considering evidence at a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London. Three appeal judges on Wednesday ruled that evidence relating to what was in Archie's best interests should be reconsidered by a different High Court judge.
Lawyers representing Archie's parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, of Southend, Essex, argued that Mrs Justice Arbuthnot had made errors. Edward Devereux QC, who is leading Archie's parents' legal team, argued that the case should be remitted to the High Court so a judge could carry out a fuller analysis of whether it was in Archie's best interests for life-sustaining treatment to continue.
