The European Court of Human Rights has refused an application by Archie Battersbee’s parents to halt the withdrawal of his life support.
The 12-year-old boy’s treatment was meant to be withdrawn at 11am this morning after an appeal was refused by the Supreme Court.
But Archie’s mother, Hollie Dance, was told he’d still be kept alive while the ECHR application was considered.
Speaking to reporters outside Royal London Hospital, she said: ‘I’m hoping that they (ECHR) step in and give Archie the right to live. I think he deserves that.
‘We will not give up on Archie until the end.’
Archie has been on life support ever since he was found unconscious by his mum in April at their family home in Southend, Essex.
His mum believes the brain injury he suffered may have been the result of an online challenge.
Doctor’s now believe the boy is ‘brain-stem dead’ and say it would be best to end life support now, but his parents disagree.
Archie is currently being kept alive by medics at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel through a combination of medical interventions, including ventilation and drug treatments.
The boy’s parents 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.
But after further consideration, three judges refused to postpone the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.
In a statement, the European Court of Human Rights said it ‘would not interfere’ with the decisions of UK courts.
His parents, Ms Dance and Paul Battersbee, submitted the application to the Strasbourg-based court just hours before Barts Health NHS Trust was initially expected to withdraw Archie’s life support.
After learning of the Supreme’s Court rejection yesterday evening, they complained that a deadline of 9am the following morning left them precious little time.
The ECHR said it would not grant an interim measure to continue treatment and declared the parents’ complaints ‘inadmissible’.
The statement added the court would only grant such requests ‘on an exceptional basis’ and ‘when the applicants would otherwise face a real risk of irreversible harm’.
Reacting to the decision, Ms Dance said: ‘This is another heart-breaking development in our fight for Archie’s right to live.
‘We have been contacted by doctors in Japan and Italy who say they are willing to treat Archie, why can’t we give him a chance?
‘The NHS, the government and the Courts in this country and Europe may have given up on treating him, but we have not.
‘The whole system has been stacked against us. Reform must now come through Charlie’s Law so that no parents have to go through this.
‘In a worst-case scenario, we want to take Archie to a hospice, but the hospital have said that we cannot do that despite previous promises.
‘We have been told all along that this is all about Archie dying with “dignity”, and yet we are told we cannot take him to a hospice where it is quiet and we can spend time with him as a family without the chaos at the hospital.
‘We will fight to end for Archie’s right to live.’
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