Archie Battersbee's family to 'fight to end' in bid to have him moved to die in hospice 'with dignity'

Archie Battersbee's family to 'fight to end' in bid to have him moved to die in hospice 'with dignity'
ellie costello archie battersbee
Tom Evans

By Tom Evans


Published: 04/08/2022

- 13:15

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 10:46

Archie Battersbee's family have vowed to “fight to the end” after filing a last-minute bid to have him moved to die in a hospice “with dignity”

Archie's family confirmed they have now lodged a final application to the High Court in London to transfer Archie from the Royal London Hospital to a hospice so he can die "in dignity".

Hollie Dance, the boy’s mum, said: “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.”

Doctors treating the schoolboy for the last four months say Archie is “brain-stem dead”.

It prompted a lengthy legal battle by his family to continue his life support treatment in the hope the unconscious boy would recover.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) refused an application from the boy’s parents on Wednesday to delay any changes to his treatment, which is due to be withdrawn from 11am on Thursday.

Ms Dance said said she wanted her son to “spend his last moments” together with family privately.

Archie, 12, has been in a coma since he was found unconscious at his home in Southend, Essex, on April 7.

He is being kept alive by a combination of medical interventions, including ventilation and drug treatments, at the hospital in Whitechapel, east London.

Barts Health NHS Trust has said Archie’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”.

A High Court order made in July requires that Archie remains at the Royal London Hospital while his treatment is withdrawn.

A family spokeswoman 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.”

Hollie Dance, mother of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee
Hollie Dance, mother of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee
James Manning

Archie Battersbee with his mum Hollie Dance
Archie Battersbee with his mum Hollie Dance
Supplied

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