The family had applied to the Court of Appeal on Friday, challenging a ruling that blocked their plans to move him to a hospice before the appeal on his life was withdrawn. The Court of Appeals affirmed shortly after 6:30 p.m. that leave to appeal had been refused. The family then appealed the decision to the European Court of Human Rights, but the court said it would not intervene in the case. In the Court of Appeal’s refusal, three judges concluded that Ms Justice Theis’s original decision “deals thoroughly with each of the points raised on behalf of the parents. “We have come to the clear conclusion that every decision she made was correct for the reasons she gave,” they said. “It follows that the proposed appeal has no prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear the appeal.”
More about Archie Battersbee
A spokesman for the European Court of Human Rights said it had received a request from representatives of Archie’s parents under Article 39, which allows it to apply “provisional measures” in “exceptional” cases where it “considers that the applicant faces a real risk of serious, non- irreversible damage if the measure is not implemented’. However, it held that the complaints did not fall within the scope of Article 39. “Great and unforeseen” risks with the hostel move Archie’s mother Hollie Dance had said she wanted her brain-damaged son to “spend his final moments” with his family in private, but the High Court ruled the move was not in Archie’s best interests, characterizing the risks as “major and unforeseeable”. His parents said they recognized the risks associated with the transfer – with medical staff warning they could see Archie die in transit – but argued in court they were prepared to take them, rather than stay in hospital. His parents fought a long legal battle to withdraw his treatment, which finally failed on Wednesday when the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene. Their focus then shifted to trying to get their son into foster care. Image: Mother of Archie Battersbee, Hollie Dance, outside the High Court The 12-year-old has been in a coma since being found unconscious by his mother in April and is being kept alive by a combination of medical interventions, including ventilation and drug treatments, at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London. His mother said he took part in an online challenge gone wrong after she found him with a ligature around his neck. The doctors treating him said he is dead from his brain stem and that continuing life support is not in his best interest. Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, later said Archie’s condition was too unstable to be transferred.
