Archie died at 12:15 p.m. local time at Royal London Hospital, a few hours after doctors suspended the artificial ventilation keeping him alive, Dance told reporters, adding she was “so proud to be his mum.”
“Such a beautiful little boy, and he fought right until the very end,” she said.
Dance said the hospital had made it clear there were no more options and that life support would be withdrawn on Saturday morning.
The 12-year-old had been in a coma since he was found unconscious by his mother in April. He was being kept alive by a combination of medical interventions, including ventilation and drug treatments, according to Britain’s PA news agency.
Doctors eventually concluded the boy to be “brain-stem dead,” which led his family to pursue a legal battle over maintaining his life-sustaining support in the hope he would recover, PA reported.
In recent days, the family made bids to the High Court, Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights to have him transferred to a hospice to die, according to PA.
“Archie Battersbee passed away on Saturday afternoon at The Royal London Hospital after treatment was withdrawn in line with court rulings about his best interests,” a statement from Alistair Chesser, chief medical officer at Barts Health NHS Trust, read on Saturday.
“Members of his family were present at the bedside and our thoughts and heartfelt condolences remain with them at this difficult time,” the statement added.
Archie Battersbee, a 12-year-old boy whose parents have been fighting to keep him on life support after he fell into a coma in April, died Saturday morning after British courts ruled to suspend treatment.
“It’s with my deepest sympathy and sadness to tell you Archie passed at 12:15 today,” his mother, Hollie Dance, said from outside the hospital. “And can I just tell you, I’m the proudest mum in the whole world.”
Dance and Battersbee’s father had been fighting to keep the boy alive since he was discovered unconscious at home on April 7 with severe brain injuries. The British High Court ruled last month that the hospital should suspend life-sustaining treatment, deeming it “futile.” His family sealed the decision to the Supreme Court, and even asked the UN for support, but their appeals were rejected.
The family had asked for Battersbee to be transferred to hospice, but the High Court ruled he was too medically unstable. Treatment was suspended after the Court of Appeal and the European Court of Human Rights declined to intervene.
“Such a beautiful little boy and he fought right until the very end and I’m so proud to be his mum,” Dance said from outside the Royal London Hospital in east London.
The case is one of several high-profile instances in recent years of British courts intervening when doctors and families are at odds on the best course of treatment. Dominic Wilkinson, a professor of medical ethics at the University of Oxford, previously told The New York Times that there had been 20 such cases in the U.K. in the last decade.
In this case, Battersbee’s doctors believed he was brain dead, while his family argued he was doing better than the physicians claimed. The court ultimately sided with the physicians, ruling that there was “no hope at all of recovery,” and that continuing treatment would serve “only to protract his death, whilst being unable to prolong his life.”
Hollie Dance, mother of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee, speaks to the media outside the Royal London hospital in Whitechapel, east London.
James Manning – PA Images
Supporters of the family made a tribute outside the hospital with candles in the shape of the letter A, according to The Guardian. Ella Carter, a family member, told the outlet that watching Battersbee die was “barbaric.”
“There is absolutely nothing dignified about watching a family member or a child suffocate,” she said. “No family should ever have to go through what we have been through.”
Alistair Chesser, chief medical officer of Barts Health NHS trust, said his “heartfelt condolences” remain with the family.
“This tragic case not only affected the family and his carers but touched the hearts of many across the country,” he said.
Archie is found unconscious by his mother after an incident at their home in Essex. He is taken to Southend Hospital.
Archie is transferred to The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where he has been treated ever since.
The NHS trust that runs the Royal London starts High Court proceedings by asking for Archie to undergo brain stem testing.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot rules that brain stem testing should be carried out.
Two specialists try to administer brain stem function tests, but they are unable to as Archie did not respond to a peripheral nerve stimulation test, a precursor to the brain stem test.
A hearing is held to decide if further MRI scans should be conducted. Archie’s parents did not consent on the basis that moving Archie could harm him.
The court approves further MRI scans, which are carried out on 31 May.
A final hearing is held to hear evidence on whether Archie’s life-support treatment should continue.
The High Court judge rules that Archie is “dead” based on MRI scan results and that treatment could be withdrawn.
Image caption Hollie Dance, Archie’s mother, outside the High Court Image copyright by PA
The family ask the Court of Appeal to reconsider the case.
The Court of Appeal says that a new hearing to determine Archie’s best interests should take place.
A new hearing is held in the High Court with evidence given before Mr Justice Hayden.
Mr Justice Hayden rules that life-support treatment should end, saying continuing it is “futile”.
Three Court of Appeal judges support the High Court ruling that treatment can end.
The Supreme Court rules out intervening in the case and supports the Court of Appeal ruling.
The family make an application to the United Nations.
Image caption Archie’s mother and father, Paul Battersbee, outside the Royal London Hospital Image copyright by PA
A UN Committee writes to the UK government asking for a delay in withdrawing treatment while they consider the case.
The government asks for an urgent hearing to review the case.
The Court of Appeal refuses to postpone withdrawal of treatment until the UN can hear the case.
The Supreme Court refuse the family’s application for permission to appeal the Court of Appeal ruling.
European Court of Human Rights refuses an application from the family to postpone the withdrawal of Archie’s life support.
Archie’s parents make a legal application to move their son to a hospice for end of life care.
A High Court judge rules that Archie cannot be moved to a hospice for withdrawal of treatment.
The parents of a 12-year-old British boy left in a coma after suffering a “catastrophic” brain injury three months ago have lost a court appeal to stop doctors from ending his life-support treatment.
Archie Battersbee was found unconscious at his home on April 7 with a “ligature” around his neck, according to court documents. His mother, Hollie Dance, has said she thinks he suffocated while attempting a viral online fad known as the “Blackout Challenge.”
Mother sues TikTok after 10-year-old died trying ‘Blackout Challenge’
Doctors at the Royal London Hospital, where the boy is being treated, believe that he is brain dead and that his body will eventually collapse even if life support continues.
An attorney for the boy’s parents told the court that his mother had seen her son breathe independently of a ventilator on Friday and Saturday, the Guardian newspaper reported.
According to court documents, Dance also reported feeling Archie squeeze her hand on one occasion. Medical staff said they had not witnessed “any sign of spontaneous life in him,” even during painful procedures.
Speaking to reporters Monday outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London — where three Court of Appeal judges upheld an earlier court ruling that continuing life-support treatment was not in Archie’s best interests — Dance vowed not to give up the fight.
“The system shouldn’t be allowed to do this to people,” she said. “All I’ve asked for from day one is time. … That’s my little boy, and I’ll fight as long as I possibly can.”
A number of children have died doing the Blackout Challenge after seeing it on TikTok, according to a U.S. lawsuit filed in May by the mother of Nylah Anderson, a 10-year-old girl from Chester, Pa. Her mother found her hanging in her closet and near-death in December. The girl — described by those who loved her as a precious, fun-loving “butterfly” — died at a hospital five days later.
Other deaths cited in the lawsuit include a 14-year-old Australian boy in April 2020, a 10-year-old Italian girl in January 2021, a 12-year-old Colorado boy in April of that year and a 12-year-old Oklahoma boy in July 2021.
A TikTok spokesperson told The Washington Post at the time that the “disturbing ‘challenge,’ which people seem to learn about from sources other than TikTok, long predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend.”
Sir Andrew McFarlane, one of three judges in Monday’s U.K. court ruling, said Archie’s condition and the “awful predicament” he and his family are in had received widespread media attention, including a photograph taken before the incident.
However, the judge said Archie “is no longer the boy in the photograph.” He added that the 12-year-old is “someone whose every bodily function is now maintained by artificial means.”
The three Court of Appeal judges said they would delay ending Archie’s treatment for 48 hours — until 2 p.m. local time on Wednesday — to allow his parents to ask the European Court of Human Rights to consider the case.
The boy’s father, Paul Battersbee, was taken to a hospital before Monday’s hearing after suffering from a suspected heart attack.
