Judge rules Archie Battersbee’s life support should end

A High Court judge has ruled that Archie Battersbee’s life support should end, with the 12-year-old boy having suffered “irreversible cessation of brain-stem function”.

In concluding that Archie had passed away at noon on 31^st May, the judge, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, said:

“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; to extubate Archie Battersbee; to cease the administration of medication to Archie Battersbee and not to attempt any cardio or pulmonary resuscitation on Archie Battersbee when cardiac output ceases or respiratory effort ceases.”

The steps I have set out above are lawful.”

Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, are set to appeal the ruling.

Archie has been in a coma since April after suffering a “freak accident” at home. His mother, Hollie, said she found him with a ligature over his head. She believes Archie had been taking part in an online challenge, such as TikTok’s “blackout challenge” where users choke themselves until loss of consciousness.

The court heard the incident has resulted in the lower part of Archie’s brain being significantly damaged, with the upper part also affected. Experts said the prognosis is “very grave”, adding that the injuries are “severe enough… that a point of return is unlikely”.

Fiona Paterson, the barrister for the hospital, said the scans “paint a picture that may be very hard to bear”, adding the opinion of a doctor that “Archie’s digestive system is no longer absorbing nourishment properly as a result of his brain injury”.

Therefore, the doctors argued that the boy’s life support at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel should end.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot had ordered additional scans to be taken before ruling. The expert in the case felt there had been no improvement since the previous set of scans were carried out; rather, the boy’s condition had deteriorated. Two other experts in an earlier hearing said Archie’s damage was “irretrievable” and that he was “brain-stem dead”.