Let my Archie die in peace: 'Heartbroken' mum's plea to let 'brain-dead' son spend final moments in hospice

4 August 2022, 00:18 | Updated: 4 August 2022, 16:03

The "heartbroken" mother of Archie Battersbee has begged authorities to let her "brain-dead" son die peacefully in a hospice, after losing her final bid to keep his life support switched on.

The 12-year-old's family said they will "fight" to get him moved to a hospice, insisting they should be allowed to choose where he takes "his last moments".

It comes after they lost their latest legal application on Wednesday evening to postpone the withdrawal of his life support machine, after the European Court of Human Rights refused to "interfere" with the decision made by UK courts.

The family has now filed an application to the High Court in London to transfer him out of the Royal London Hospital.

A High Court hearing could come as early as Thursday afternoon, but it has not been confirmed.

Barts Health NHS Trust said Archie's life support will be withdrawn at 11am on Thursday unless an application regarding the hospice move is submitted by 9am.

The Trust has maintained that they will not begin removing life-support until all legal issues have been resolved.

As well as applying to allow the family to transfer Archie to a hospice, lawyers have also applied for palliative oxygen to be given to Archie if and when life-support is removed.

Archie's mum, Hollie Dance, said: "If Archie is denied oxygen if and when life-support is removed I will continue to give him oxygen. I pray that the High Court will do the right thing.

"If they refuse permission for us to take him to a hospice and for him to receive palliative oxygen it will simply be inhumane and nothing about Archie's 'dignity'.

"The whole system has been stacked against us. Reform must now come through Charlie’s Law so that no parents have to go through this. 

"We will fight to end for Archie's right to live."

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Archie Battersbee's mother speaks to LBC

A High Court order made in July requires that Archie remains at the Royal London Hospital while his treatment is withdrawn.

The trust said: "Any application will be opposed on both a procedural basis and best interests basis."

It explained that Archie's condition is "unstable" and that it believes "transferring him even a short distance involves significant risk".

A family spokeswoman said it is "completely barbaric and absolutely disgusting that we're not even allowed to choose where Archie takes his last moments".

She said a hospice has agreed to take him, adding: "Hospices are well and truly designed for palliative and respite care.

"Archie is now obviously on palliative care so there is no reason whatsoever for him not to take his last moments at a hospice."

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Ms Dance said she wanted her son to have a "dignified passing at a hospice", adding that is is "unfair" they have to "fight" to get him out of the hospital.

Becoming tearful as she gave her reaction to the European court's decision, she said: "The one thing I will say is, I promised him I'd fight to the end and that's exactly what I've done."

Ms Dance had submitted the application to the European court along with Archie's father, Paul Battersbee, just hours before Barts Health NHS Trust had been expected to withdraw their son's life support on Wednesday.

Asked by reporters outside the hospital whether this defeat felt different, she said: "It's the end. It was the last thing, wasn't it? And again our country have failed a 12-year-old child."

She claimed the hospital had also "failed" her son, saying: "I would like him out of here as quick as possible really, and in a peaceful hospice to say goodbye and spend time with his family, uninterrupted by the noise and chaos."

Ms Dance said she "won't allow" anything to be done before his father returns to his bedside at the hospital on Thursday.

Read more: Doctors delay switching off tragic Archie's life support as mum vows to fight 'to the bitter end'

Archie has been in a coma since he was found unconscious 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 parents have mounted a number of legal challenge since then after doctors said he was brain stem dead.

On July 15 the High Court decided the continuation of treatment was not in Archie's best interests, and his parents approached the United Nations Committee for the Rights of People with Disabilities.

The UNCRPD asked the hospital not to withdraw treatment while they considered Archie's case, but the next day the NHS trust said unless a stay was granted by British courts they would withdraw life support after 2pm on August 1.

Archie's parents applied to the Court of Appeal for a stay on August 1 but it was rejected, as was an appeal against that decision made to the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday Archie's parents approached the ECHR and said the UK had breached the European Convention on Human Rights by not honouring the UNCRPD's interim measure, and asked the Court to issue an interim measure to prevent the hospital from withdrawing treatment.

This plea was rejected on Wednesday evening.

In a statement, the Court said it would not grant an interim measure to continue treatment and declared the parents' complaints "inadmissible".

The statement added the court would only grant such requests "on an exceptional basis" and "when the applicants would otherwise face a real risk of irreversible harm".

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Yesterday Ms Dance said she is "running on empty" after weeks of legal challenges but had promised she would fight to the "bitter end... (for) the right for my son to live".

Adding: "Inside I'm broke... at some point I am going to need serious therapy but I haven't got time to think about me at the minute, this is a serious fight for my son's life and I'm up against the biggest system and a trust."

"I am gonna stand here and say doctors do get it wrong," she said outside the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

"I'm saying that they've got it wrong in this case."

"Other countries are so supportive... they want to take Archie, they've been offering treatment, they've got high success rates," she said.

"Why is it so cut-and-shut that he has to die in this country because this country doesn't want to treat him no more?" she asked, naming "Tokyo and Italy".