The family of little Archie Battersbee, a 12-year-old English boy who has been in a deep coma for three months, has given up fighting for new treatments for the child and, according to the child’s mother, “a dignified death” at a clinic specializing in palliative care. Holly is at the range to administer oxygen to her son through “mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
Following the European Court of Human Rights (ECHRT) decision not to intervene to stop Archie’s life support machines from being switched off, the boy’s parents, Holly Dance and Paul Battersbee, have made a formal request to move the boy to a hospice. They get to choose where the child will spend their last moments.
“Now we have to fight to get him out of here [do hospital] He died a dignified death in a palliative clinic. It is very unfair. As parents we have no rights over our children. It’s revolting,” laments the English boy’s mother.
Archie has been in a coma and brain damage since April, when he was found unconscious at home by his mother. It is suspected that the boy was participating in a ‘suicide challenge’ on TikTok when the tragedy happened. Now, Archie is connected to machines with ventilation and treatments at the Royal London Hospital, but the family alleges that the hospital unit is lying to them.
The family was previously told it was possible to move Archie to a hospice, but now doctors have “gotten back on their word,” the mother says.
Barts Health Fund, the UK’s National Health Organisation, which runs the hospital, was contacted by the Mirror, explaining that doctors argue there are “significant risks” in transferring the baby. “In its unstable state, transferring the ambulance to a completely different environment, even with specialized equipment and personnel throughout the journey, can accelerate the premature deterioration that the family wants to avoid.” The hospital added that the court ruled that Archie must remain in the hospital while the treatments are withdrawn and the machines are turned off.
Archie’s mother fears the worst: As happened in the case of Alfie Evans in 2018, when the life support machines are turned off, her son will not receive palliative oxygen. At that time, the child’s family gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Archie’s mother, while a religious group representing the family has already formalized a request that the child not take oxygen, feels ready to do the same.
“If Archie is denied oxygen when the machines are turned off, I will give him oxygen myself. I pray that the courts will decide what is right. If they refuse to allow him to be taken to the hospital, they will not give him oxygen palliative, it is inhumane,” cries Holly Dance, who is heartbroken. He says he is gone and some of the choices shown in court are not his son. “One of the MRIs when Archie was 12 showed nine teeth in the lower jaw. I ask that you carefully review our requests, we need a little more time,” Archie’s mother concludes in the Mirror.
