By David Young-
The parents of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee, battling to keep their son on a life support machine after the High Court and the Court Of Appeal turned down their applications, have been rejected by the Supreme Court in a last ditch attempt to intervene and give them hope of eventually seeing their child alive.
Archie’s mother and father, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, put their last hopes in supreme court justices to give them more time to continue their efforts to keep their young child on life support machine.
Dance and Battersbee want the United Nations to consider the case after losing life support treatment fights in London courts.
They wanted supreme court justices to prevent doctors at the Royal London hospital from stopping life support treatment until they have time to make an application to the UN, but three justices on Thursday refused their application, leaving them in further despair.
A supreme court spokesperson said: “This afternoon, 28 July 2022, the supreme court received an urgent permission to appeal (PTA) application in the case of Archie Battersbee.
“The parents of Archie Battersbee … were seeking a stay of the court of appeal’s decision to allow withdrawal of life support treatment from their child. Aware of the urgency of this matter, the court convened a panel of three justices who considered submissions.
“Having considered the careful judgment of the court of appeal … the panel has refused permission to appeal to the supreme court.” No further explanation was provided by the Supreme Court to confirm the validity of the Court Of Appeal, except to agree with them.
Archie’s parents want the UN to intervene and compel the Uk to keep Archie on the life support machine whilst the case is investigated.
They have repeatedly highlighted the rights of disabled people, but justices at all levels of the British judicial system have so far disagreed with them.
They have vowed to keep fighting and their lawyers are seeking assurances doctors would not stop treatment until they could apply to the UN.
She said: “Words cannot describe how devastated we are. The pressure put on us from the beginning to rush through the process of ending Archie’s life has been disgraceful.”
“We will continue fighting for Archie and will not give up.”
Archie has been wholly dependent on mechanical ventilation since being admitted to hospital on 7 April, after being found unconscious with a ligature around his neck at home in Southend, Essex.
Doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, say he is brain-stem dead and continued life-support treatment is not in his best interests.
They claim the UN could ask the UK government to delay the withdrawal of life support while a complaint is investigated.
The family argue that stopping treatment would be in breach of the UK’s obligations under Articles 10 and 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children.
Archie is not viewed in British law as qualifying as a disabled person, because he sustained brain damage about three months ago when he choked while taking part in a viral social media trend known as the “blackout challenge”.
His participation in that challenge has created the biggest challenge and nightmare for his parents who will do everything in their power to save their son’s life.