A British mother’s desperate battle to try to keep her 12-year-old son alive against medical advice seems to be coming to an end. Since April 7, Archie Battersbee has been in a deep coma. The young boy no longer has any reaction, cannot breathe without assistance, and the medical profession considers that he has no hope of recovery.
On May 31, the British justice declared him dead, a decision against which his parents, refusing that the hospital disconnect the machines which keep him alive, had appealed. On Tuesday August 2, the British Supreme Court rejected their request to continue the treatments. On Wednesday, two hours before the scheduled end of the boy’s life, the parents appealed again, this time to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), postponing the fateful deadline. But in the evening, it rejected their appeal, deeming their request inadmissible. “We will not interfere [dans cette affaire] »said the Strasbourg court.
In front of the Royal London Hospital, where the child is kept alive, Hollie Dance, his mother, seemed to recognize that it was ” the end “ : “That was the last thing, wasn’t it?” » At the BBC, she confided to be “devastated, frustrated, angry”.
Hospital authorities have announced they are giving Archie Battersbee’s parents until 9am on Thursday August 4 to file a possible high court application to transfer the child to a private hospice. Otherwise, they plan to turn off the machines keeping the child alive at 11 a.m. However, they warn that a possible transfer would be extremely risky. “Archie is in such an unstable condition that there are considerable risks just to return him to his hospital bed. (…) In his condition, an ambulance transfer to a completely different environment will most likely hasten the premature deterioration that his family wishes to avoid. »
Hollie Dance, however, claims that two countries – Japan and Italy, according to the BBC – have offered to offer treatment. “If this country [le Royaume-Uni] cannot or does not want to treat him, what is the harm in allowing him to go to another country? », she launched Wednesday morning. The day before, Mr.me Dance had accused, on Sky News, the hospital of organizing “the choreography of execution” of his son.
A social media challenge
In the photos, Archie is a smiling young blond boy with pale blue eyes. A video shared by his mother shows him training in MMA, a martial art he loved. This seemingly carefree life came to an abrupt halt on April 7. Mme Dance found her unconscious son at her home in Southend-on-Sea, in the east of England. He had strangled himself with something he had passed around his neck, according to court documents. The mum claims Archie allegedly tried to reenact a challenge seen on social media. Three days later, doctors deemed him brain dead.
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