Judges have ruled the case of whether to end life-support treatment for a 12-year-old boy with brain damage should be reconsidered by a High Court judge.
Earlier this month a High Court judge ruled Archie Battersbee was dead – but the case was considered by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday and three appeal judges concluded there should be another High Court Hearing.
Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, argue that his life support treatment should end.
But his parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, want the treatment to continue, saying the youngster’s heart is still beating and he has gripped his mother’s hand.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot recently ruled that doctors could lawfully stop providing treatment to Archie, after considering evidence at a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
Doctors treating Archie told her they think he is “brain-stem dead” and should be disconnected from a ventilator.
Lawyers representing the Royal London Hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, asked judge Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to decide what was in the boy’s best interests.
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Mrs Justice Arbuthnot concluded Archie was dead, and said treatment should end, prompting Archie’s parents to begin a Court of Appeal challenge.
The judge said there was a “compelling reason” why appeal judges should consider the case.
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Edward Devereux QC, a barrister leading Archie’s parents’ legal team, had argued evidence has not shown “beyond reasonable doubt” that he is dead.
Archie has been at the centre of the legal dispute after he was seriously injured in an incident at his home in Southend, Essex, three months ago.
Ms Dance said she found her son unconscious with a ligature over his head on 7 April and thinks he might have been taking part in an online challenge.
He has not regained consciousness.
