The “devastated” mother of a 12-year-old boy who was at the centre of a life-support treatment fight says relatives aim to appeal after a High Court judge ruled that the youngster was dead. Doctors treating Archie Battersbee at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, thought that the youngster was “brain-stem dead”.
They said life-support treatment should end and Archie should be disconnected from a ventilator. Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, from Southend, Essex, say the youngster’s heart is still beating and want treatment to continue.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot on Monday ruled that Archie, who suffered brain damage in an incident at home in April, was dead and said doctors could lawfully stop treating him. “I am devastated and extremely disappointed by the judge’s ruling after weeks of fighting a legal battle when I wanted to be at my little boy’s bedside,” said Ms Dance, in a statement, after the ruling.
