Archie Battersbee’s family launch appeal to ‘let him die in dignity’ in hospice

Family members of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee have made a final plea for him to have "a dignified death", as the protracted legal battle over his life edges to its conclusion on Thursday.

An application has been made to the High Court in London to move him from Royal London Hospital to a hospice to die, a campaign spokesperson has confirmed.

Hollie Dance, the boy's mother, wants Archie to "spend his last moments" with loved ones privately.

“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’.

“We will fight to the end for Archie’s right to live.”

Ms Dance said she had been left “absolutely deflated” after a decision, on Wednesday, by the European Court of Human Rights not to intervene in the case.

Her attention has now turned to getting hospice care for Archie. Ms Dance said that Archie's loved ones have not been able to have privacy at the hospital.

"We can't even have the chance to be in a room together as a family without nurses."

She said: "There's absolutely no privacy, which is why, again, the courts keep going on about this dignified death - why aren't we allowed to take our child to a hospice and spend his last moments, his last days, together privately?

"Why is the hospital obstructing it?"

She said: "It's going be awful today.

"I woke up absolutely sick to my stomach. Like I just feel this hospital have so much to answer for and I don't really know what else to say today."

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 hospital in Whitechapel, east London.

Ms Dance believes Archie was taking part in an online challenge, and has not regained consciousness since.

Ms Dance and Archie’s father, Paul Battersbee, have been involved in a series of legal efforts regarding their son’s condition. She said she would fight so another parent did not have to go through what she had.

“I’ve said from day one I totally understand and respect that some parents out there might choose to do things differently...however, this is ours and I know Archie’s there and because of...things that I’m seeing - Archie progressing on a daily basis - that is why I’ve continued to fight so hard.

“I wouldn’t want any other parents to go through what we’ve gone through, which is why I have tried to highlight quite a lot of subjects since we’ve been here, like the online challenge.

“I know that so, so many people have sat their kids down and used Archie’s story to hopefully save their lives.”

They were granted a Court of Appeal hearing on Monday after the Government asked judges to urgently consider a request from a UN committee to keep treating Archie while it reviews his case.

However, after considering the matter, three judges refused to postpone the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment beyond midday on Tuesday.

They also refused to grant permission to appeal against their ruling at the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday in its decision, the European court said it would not “interfere with the decisions of the national courts to allow the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from (Archie) to proceed”.

Barts Health NHS Trust has said the boy's condition is too unstable for a transfer and that moving him by ambulance to a different setting "would most likely hasten the premature deterioration the family wish to avoid, even with full intensive care equipment and staff on the journey".