justice
Archie case: Court dismisses hospice application
The terminally ill Archie’s parents, Paul Battersbee and Hollie Dance, address reporters outside the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. photo
© Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa
Twelve-year-old Archie’s fate is sealed: the devices that keep him alive are about to be switched off. However, a court rejected the transfer to a hospice.
In the fight for their dying son Archie, the parents of the 12-year-old boy suffered another defeat in England. The Court of Appeal in London on Friday evening rejected an application by the family to have the terminally ill Archie transferred from a hospital to a hospice. The devices that are currently keeping the boy alive are to be switched off soon.
The Court of Appeal upheld a previous decision by the High Court that it was in Archie’s best interest for life support to be discontinued in the hospital rather than in another setting, the judge said on Friday afternoon. The family immediately announced that they would contact the European Court of Human Rights again.
Archie has been in a coma since April. He sustained serious brain injuries in an accident at home in Southend-on-Sea, possibly during an internet dare. The treating doctors see no chance of recovery.
The UK’s highest court had backed the doctors’ decision to let Archie die. It is in the boy’s best interest. A final appeal by the parents to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg was also unsuccessful.
Archie’s parents then tried to have Archie transferred to a hospice so that their son could spend his final hours in a quieter, more peaceful environment. However, the hospital refused: “Archie is in such an unstable condition that there is a significant risk even if he is turned inside his hospital bed, which must be done as part of his ongoing care,” the hospital operator said. Therefore, being transferred by ambulance to a completely different area would most likely rapidly deteriorate his condition.