Archie Battersbee's family has NOT GIVEN UP: Will move Supreme Court to challenge denial of UN appeal
The parents of Archie Battersbee have now decided to take help from the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal denied them permission to go to the United Nations to save their son’s life. The appeal judges ruled on Monday, July 25 in favor of taking off the 12-year-old’s life support, which he has been on since last April.
One of the judges, Sir Andrew McFarlane, said: “Archie is no longer the boy in the photograph. He is someone whose every bodily function is now maintained by artificial means.” However, the court also “ordered a 48-hour delay to life support ending to allow the family to make an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR),” according to a BBC report. But it has been said that Archie's mother and father, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, want the UN’s intervention since the ECHR is reportedly known for dismissing applications of end-of-life cases.
ALSO READ
As per reports, the parents will urgently apply to the Supreme Court "to appeal the decision to block them from making an application to the UN". The UN reportedly has the authority to order the British government to halt the removal of life support as a probe is ongoing following a complaint. Apparently, the international body's authority over the matter is a result of UK being a part of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
For the past few weeks, Archie's parents have made several appeals after the first ruling came out against their wish. Justice Arbuthnot at the Family Division of the High Court in London declared on June 13, “I find that Archie died at noon on May 31, 2022, which was shortly after the MRI scans taken that day. I find that irreversible cessation of brain stem function has been conclusively established. I give permission to the medical professionals at the Royal London Hospital to cease to ventilate mechanically Archie Battersbee.”
But Hollie and Paul did not stop there and asked for a re-examination of their case. Justice Hayden was then made the in-charge, who also ruled against them, saying, “It serves only to protract his death, whilst being unable to prolong his life,” before the case went to the Court of Appeal, which gave the hospital permission to lawfully stop providing life support.
Slamming the court’s decision, Hollie said, “It feels wrong that the Court of Appeal have tried to force us down a road which they know will fail and have taken away our rights of taking the case to the UN. All we have asked for from the beginning is for Archie to be given more time and for Archie's wishes and ours to be respected. As long as Archie is alive, I will never give up on him, he is too good to give up on.”
She also asserted, “When he is to die, we believe it should be in God’s way and in God’s time. What is the rush? Why is the hospital and the courts so keen to push this through as fast as possible?”
TOP STORIES
Where is Hunter Moore now? New Netflix docu lays bare sick life of 'most hated man on the Internet'
Archie Battersbee's FIGHT TO LIVE: Mom says video of her son, 12, proves he's trying to BREATHE on his own
Andrea Williams, chief executive of a campaign organization called the Christian Legal Center, which is assisting the boy’s family, added, “The pace at which this case is running is troubling and there appears to be an unexplained urgency from the hospital and courts to end life support for Archie. There needs to be a wholesale review of how the system works in this kind of case. Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee are remarkable in the way in which they have advocated for their son.”