A judge has ruled that a 12-year-old boy, who has been at the centre of a High Court treatment dispute after suffering brain damage in an incident at home in April, is 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 was dead and said doctors could lawfully stop treating him. Lawyers representing the Royal London Hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, had asked Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to decide what moves are in Archie’s best interests.
