A British court has authorized a hospital to turn off life support for Archie Battersbee, who was in a coma for more than three months after making an online challenge. According to doctors, he was diagnosed with brain death, but the family may appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Archie Battersbee, 12, was found unconscious by his mother after her neck was bandaged. What started as an online challenge took the boy to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with irreversible brain damage. More than three months after he was in a coma, the High Court of England and Wales allowed doctors to turn off life support, but the boy’s parents dispute this.
Called the “Blackout Challenge,” the challenge, which is going viral on the Internet, requires players to squeeze their necks until oxygen runs out and, as a result, they lose consciousness. Archie would have decided to join fashion, but it would be a joke that ended in a tragic ending.
In early April, Holly Dance entered her son’s room, found the boy lifeless, and quickly rushed him to the emergency room of a hospital in Essex, where the family lives. But after almost four months of fighting for survival, the Supreme Court ruled that doctors could turn off the machines that were still keeping Archie alive.
According to staff at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, the baby was diagnosed as brain dead, kept alive only by the use of artificial means, but countries denied that option meant the case had to remain. Delivered to justice.
The boy’s parents asked that Archie be on life support until he dies of natural causes, at a time “chosen by God.” However, the judge’s most recent decision, delivered this Monday, only confirmed a decision that had already been announced and was deemed irreversible by judicial officials.
Andrew McFarlane, head of the family division of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, considered that “continued life-support treatment is no longer possible”, noting that Archie’s “organs are gradually deteriorating” and he has just weeks to die.
However, the lawyer for Archie’s parents, Edward Devereux, explained that the child will be kept on life support until at least 2am this Wednesday (the same time in mainland Portugal). The legal representative left on the table the possibility of the family requesting an extension of the deadline and said they were considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Archie’s mother claims the boy shook her hand more than once, but “no member of the medical staff observed any signs of spontaneous activity during the period of intensive observation,” according to court documents.
However, Holly Dance says there is evidence that Archie tried to breathe autonomously, and according to the family’s lawyer, the video evidence could be used to appeal the court ruling.
“As long as Archie is alive, I will never give up on him,” the boy’s mother clarified.
Casso Alfie Evans
Alfie Evans, born in Liverpool in May 2016, was hospitalized seven months later with a degenerative neurological disease. But after nearly a year and a half of treatment, doctors felt there was no hope of the baby’s survival, and despite the family’s legal battle, the medical team turned off the baby’s life support. British justice.
The case made headlines in the UK after Alfie’s parents Tom Evans and Kate James filed a habeas corpus for their son’s life at the Court of Appeal. Thousands of people took to the streets of Liverpool to protest against the court decision.
Before the life support machine was turned off, the head of the Catholic Church received Thomas Evans in a private audience and made several phone calls to keep the child alive. “Moved by the prayers and wider solidarity in support of little Alfie Evans. I renew my appeal to hear the suffering of the parents,” the pontiff wrote on Twitter.
With the support of the Pope and the Italian government, the family’s intention was to take the boy to Italy, with assurances that the English doctors would continue to follow up after the child’s suffering and decided to stop treatment. Lasting. Italy granted Alfie Italian citizenship to facilitate the baby’s transfer to a hospital in the country, but efforts were futile.
The British judiciary rejected an appeal to transfer the child to Italy and the life support machine was turned off on April 28, 2018, leaving several ethical questions in the air.
