Relatives wait for ruling on boy at centre of life-support treatment fight

Doctors treating 12-year-old Archie Battersbee think the youngster is ‘brain-stem dead’ and say treatment should stop but his parents disagree.

Undated family handout file photo of Archie Battersbee (Hollie Dance/PA) (Hollie Dance/PA)

Relatives of a 12-year-old boy at the centre of a High Court life-support treatment dispute after suffering brain damage are waiting for a judge’s ruling.

Doctors treating Archie Battersbee at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, think the youngster is “brain-stem dead”.

They say life-support treatment should end and the youngster should be disconnected from a ventilator.

Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, from Southend, Essex, say the youngster’s heart is still beating and want treatment to continue.

Lawyers representing the Royal London Hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, have asked Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to decide what moves are in Archie’s best interests.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot on Wednesday finished overseeing a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

She said she aimed to deliver ruling on Monday.

The judge heard that Archie suffered brain damage in an incident at home in early April.

Ms Dance told how she found him unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7 and thinks he might have been taking part in an online challenge.

The youngster has not regained consciousness.

Lawyers representing Archie’s family have told the judge that his heart is still beating.

They also say there was an issue as to whether “the correct procedure” had been followed, and whether the “family’s views” had been taken into account.

A campaign organisation called the Christian Legal Centre is supporting Archie’s family.