Archie Battersbee Dies After Being Taken Off Life Support

Parents of 12-year-old, in coma since April, waged unsuccessful battle to keep him on life support
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 3, 2022 10:45 AM CDT
Updated Aug 6, 2022 8:16 AM CDT
Archie Battersbee's Parents Pursue One Final Option
The parents of Archie Battersbee, Paul Battersbee and Hollie Dance, speak to the media outside the Royal London Hospital in London on Tuesday.   (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

Update: Archie Battersbee, the 12-year-old British boy whose parents fought to keep him on life support, has died, reports the Independent. Per Sky News, a spokeswoman for the family said Archie, who'd been in a coma since April, was taken off his medication at Royal London Hospital at 10am local time, and that "his stats remained stable until two hours later when they removed the ventilation." She added: "We hope no family has to go through what we went through. It's barbaric." Archie's parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, had unsuccessfully launched a final appeal this week to the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. In an interview on Friday, Dance told Sky that "I've done everything that I promised my little boy I'd do." Outside the hospital on Saturday, Dance said that Archie "fought right until the very end and I am so proud to be his mum." Our original story from Wednesday follows:

The parents of a 12-year-old who doctors say will not recover from extensive brain damage are continuing to fight against his removal from life support in the UK with an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. "We now hope and pray that the ECHR will look favorably on the application," says Hollie Dance, mother of Archie Battersbee, who was found unconscious with a ligature over his head at his home in Essex on April 7, per the BBC. "I am hoping that they will step in and give Archie a right to live," she says, adding, "We will not give up on Archie until the end."

Archie would've already been removed from life support had it not been for the appeals of his parents, including to the UK Supreme Court, which have so far been unsuccessful. He was to be taken off life support at 11am local time on Wednesday unless his parents submitted their application for a stay to the ECHR—their last remaining option—by 9am, per the Guardian. "We can confirm that the court has received an application for interim measures and that it is being processed currently," the ECHR says, per the Telegraph.

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Barts Health NHS Trust, which operates Royal London Hospital where Archie has been under care, says it will "make no changes to Archie's care until the outstanding legal issues are resolved." Dance says health providers in Japan and Italy have offered to continue treatment for Archie "if this country can't treat him or they're not willing to treat him," per the BBC. "If they can offer him some hope, then give him that chance," she says, per the Telegraph. (More life support stories.)

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