The legal battle that Archie’s parents waged to keep their son on life support ultimately failed. On 6 August 2022, he passed away.
The 12-year-old British boy Archie Battersbee, whose family lost a legal battle to prevent his doctors from removing him from a ventilator, passed away on Saturday.
According to the New York Times, Archie Dance’s mother, Hollie Dance, told reporters outside the Royal London Hospital where her son passed away, “Can I just say I’m the proudest mum in the world — such a beautiful little boy, and he fought right to the very end?”
And being his mother makes me so proud.
When he was discovered unconscious with a ligature around his neck in April, Archie had been on a ventilator and in a coma since then.
News reports state that his family believes he might have been participating in a social media challenge.
The boy, whose heart was still beating, was “very likely” brain-stem dead, according to Archie’s doctors at the Royal London Hospital, but no conclusive test was ever carried out.
The test, which was mandated by the UK’s Code of Practice, was not carried out because doctors determined there was a risk it could result in a false negative result, despite a UK High Court judge granting the doctors’ request.
His family rejected the brain stem test because they thought it was too risky and that Archie needed more time to heal as much as he could.
Archie was seen crying and holding his mother’s hand in video evidence that the family submitted.
The High Court judge declared the evidence to be unconvincing in a decision on June 13.
According to the medical information that was at hand, Archie was brain dead as of May 31.
She thus ordered that the boy be taken off the ventilator. The verdict was later upheld by an appeals court.
After the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declined to take the case last week, Archie’s parents had no other recourse than to file a lawsuit.
“It was the final item, wasn’t it? A 12-year-old child has once again been let down by our nation “According to the BBC, Dance stated.
Experts in Catholic bioethics denounced the hospital’s choice to remove Archie’s life support.
It is strange that decisions about life and death should depend more on a balance of probabilities than on proof beyond a reasonable doubt, according to a statement issued by the UK-based Anscombe Bioethics Centre prior to Archie’s passing.
In Hospital Baptised
Following the news of Archie’s passing, the bioethics centre released a statement.
“The legal dispute over Archie Battersbee’s treatment is the most recent illustration of how unresolved conflict between hospital administrators and parents can aggravate the death of a child.
The statement read, “It becomes obvious that there are severe issues with the current therapeutic, interpersonal, ethical, and legal approach to these situations.
The centre stated that “the tragic example of Archie Battersbee must result in reform so that future instances of these disputes can be avoided.”
“The family of Archie and Archie himself are in our final prayers and thoughts.
Through the mercy of God, may his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace,” the statement concluded.
A family spokesperson in court testimony described Archie’s family as “vaguely Christian” but not regular churchgoers before his brain damage.
But the representative claimed that Archie was drawn to Christianity because he watched MMA fighters kneeling before the fight.
According to the June 13 High Court judgement, “Archie had saved up for and subsequently began wearing a little cross and a St Christopher’s ring in the two years before to the disaster.”
“Archie had been talking about becoming baptised and asked his mother to accompany him to a Christmas Eve church service.
As Archie lay unconscious, the family decided to baptise him. On Easter Sunday at the hospital, Archie’s mother, brother, and sister were baptised “the judgement says.