Archie Battersbee's dad in hospital after suffering heart attack or stroke, lawyer says

The father of Archie Battersbee has been rushed to the hospital following fears he may have suffered a heart attack or a stroke, a lawyer told judges ahead of today's Court of Appeal ruling.

Paul Battersbee was taken to hospital before the hearing in London, but it is not clear when that was.

There is no current update on his condition.

It comes as appeal judges ruled that doctors can lawfully stop providing life-support treatment to Archie.

A lawyer representing Archie's parenting tried to get the ruling postponed following revelations that Hollie Dance, 46, believes her son had tried to breathe independently and that Mr Battersee had been rushed to hospital.

Archie Battersbee was found unconscious at home in April (Hollie Dance / SWNS)

The judges refused to delay today's decision.

Mr Battersebee's condition didn't stop today's hearing as judges heard that Ms Dance believes he has tried to breathe independently, appeal judges have been told.

Ms Dance has seen indications that Archie has twice tried to breathe independently in the last few days, a lawyer told a Court of Appeal hearing on Monday.

Appeal judges also said they would temporarily pause today's ruling for 48 hours, to give the family time to approach the European Court of Human Rights to consider the case.

On Friday, three Court of Appeal judges finished hearing arguments about what is in Archie's best interests.

Paul Battersbee and Hollie Dance, the parents of Archie Battersbee (PA)

Doctors have argued it is futile to carry on treating the 12-year-old after he suffered a catastrophic brain injury when a social media dare apparently went wrong.

This was another appeal bid from Archie's parents, of Southend, Essex, after a High Court judge ruled that doctors could lawfully stop treatment.

Mr Justice Hayden delivered a ruling recently after reviewing evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The youngster has been in a coma for several weeks (Hollie Dance / SWNS)

Hollie Dance, pictured with her son, argued Archie would want to fight (PA)

He described what had happened to Archie as a "tragedy of immeasurable dimensions", but said medical evidence was "compelling and unanimous" and painted a "bleak" picture.

Archie's parents said he made errors and want appeal judges to remit the case to another High Court judge for another hearing.

Judges have heard how medical evidence shows that Archie is in a "comatose state".