Archie Battersbee's FIGHT TO LIVE: Mom says video of her son, 12, proves he's trying to BREATHE on his own
Archie Battersbee's mother Hollie Dance claims a new video of her son proves he is trying to breathe on his own. After an appeals court ruled on Monday, July 25, that physicians could legally turn off Archie's life support, the video has been made public. Hollie Dance, Archie's mother, is confident that her 12-year-old son can breathe normally without a respirator. The Christian Legal Centre, which is assisting Archie's family, posted the video on its website on Monday, July 25.
They explained, "The judgment comes following video evidence from Archie’s mother, Hollie Dance, which suggested that the 12-year-old had made attempts to take breaths over the weekend." Archie's family plans to appeal the ruling from Monday, July 25, to the European Court of Human Rights. The family has 48 hours to decide what to do next; that time period expires at 2 pm on Wednesday, July 27. However, as soon as the decision was made, the family's attorney said they will appeal to the European court.
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The video submitted as evidence is of an emergency room monitor showing the 12-year-old's respiratory rate, which is seen rising from 14 to 15 before a diagram of a pair of lungs flashes up. This is reportedly an indicator that a patient has initiated a breath.
Archie was sent to the hospital for treatment after his mother discovered him unresponsive at his Southend-on-Sea, Essex, home on April 7. However, following an MRI scan, medical professionals at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, now think it was ‘highly likely’ that he was ‘brain-stem dead.’ According to the NHS, although a person in a brain-dead stage has a chance of making a full recovery, those who wake up are often minimally conscious, unable to communicate and have to be fed through a tube. About 43% of people who slip into a brain-dead state may awaken after a year, 34% will die, and 23% will still be unconscious.
According to the Mail Online, the appeal from Archie’s parents came after Judge Arbuthnot’s ruling on 13 June which said, "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." Paul Battersbee, the father of Archie, was also taken to the hospital this week before the court decision on Monday, July 25. Paul had fallen ill outside of court before the start of the hearing.
The legal representative for Archie's parents, Barrister Edward Devereux QC, had asked for the decision to be postponed and informed the court that Mr Battersbee, who is in his 50s, had been brought to the hospital and was likely suffering from a heart attack or stroke. Judges on the appeals panel refused to postpone the decision despite the event. Paul spent the previous night in the hospital, but according to a family spokesman, he is doing ‘OK now.’