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Great BritainArchie (12) is allowed to live on for the time being – UN decree gives parents fresh hope
A court has ruled that doctors can remove Archie from life support. The desperate parents turned to the United Nations for help as a last resort – with success.
Archie has been in a coma since an accident in April.
Screenshot/Private
Courts have ruled that doctors may end life-sustaining measures.
Facebook/poledanceuk
The treating doctors are allowed to end Archie’s life support following a court decision.
The boy’s parents continue to fight and are now asking the UN for help.
They argue that stopping treatment would violate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
A preliminary injunction from the UN has now prevented the termination of life-sustaining measures.
Archie Battersbee’s parents have made a ‘last-ditch effort’ and asked the United Nations for help after they in court had lost against doctors who wanted to stop the life-sustaining measures for the boy. Now the UN has actually issued an injunction to prevent the life-sustaining measures from being cut off.
UN intervened
The 12-year-old’s mother and father, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, had asked the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNRPD) to stop doctors from removing life support, like the “Daily Mail» reports. The couple had lost in court cases before the High Court and the Court of Appeal in London, where they had demanded that doctors continue treating Archie.
They had since held talks with officials at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, where Archie is being treated. They wanted the life support to continue while they appealed to the UNRPD.
“To receive this message now means everything”
The family argued that stopping treatment would breach the UK’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And indeed, the family seems to have been successful with their request: Like the «Daily Mail» reported on Friday evening, the UN has stopped the removal of life-support measures with an injunction.
The parents were extremely relieved after the decision: “I am so grateful to the UN for acting so quickly for my son,” said the mother, Hollie Dance. “We were so stressed and scared. We are already devastated and the uncertainty of what would happen next was unbearable. Receiving this message now means everything,” she added.
“We just kept asking for more time”
The pressure that was put on her from the start to end Archie’s life “quickly” was “shameful”. “We just kept asking for more time. The urgency on the part of the hospital and the courts is inexplicable,” said Dance. She doubts there is “anything dignified” about planning Archie’s death. After the UN ruling, she commented: “We gave Archie time, that’s all we wanted”.
Archie’s mother continues to insist that her son does too without a ventilator can breathe. A monitor in an emergency room showing Archie’s breathing rate, which is being set by a ventilator, can be seen in video released on Tuesday.
A video released on Tuesday is said to show Archie’s brain activity.
20min/Newsdesk
Archie was found with a ribbon around his neck
Archie had suffered serious brain injuries in a domestic accident in April – possibly in a dare from the Internet. The boy was found unconscious at home on April 9 with a band around his neck. He has been in a coma ever since. The case is reminiscent of similar disputes over terminally ill children in Great Britain.
The financially squeezed British health service tends to withdraw life support much earlier than would be the case in other European countries. In addition, the wishes of parents and relatives are not taken into account to the same extent. What is in the best interests of the patient is often decided by judges on the recommendation of medical professionals.
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