n NHS chief of trust says staff are giving relatives of a 12-year-old boy left in a comatose condition after brain damage to “come to terms” with a judge’s ruling that life-support treatment should be ended.
But Alistair Chesser, medical director of… Barts Health NHS Trustsaid Friday that “further delay” in starting to provide “palliative care” to Archie Battersbee would be “inappropriate” without a court order.
Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, have the United Nations intervene.
We give Archie’s loved ones time to reconcile with the courts’ decision not to continue treatment and involve them at every stage
They say they have submitted a “last-ditch” application to a UN committee after losing life-support treatment battles in London courts.
A family spokesperson said they wanted the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to look into the young person’s case.
He said a UN official had confirmed the request in writing.
Mr Chesser said the staff had “the deepest sympathy” for Archie’s family.
“We are giving Archie’s loved ones time to reconcile with the courts’ decision not to continue treatment and involve them at every stage,” he said in a statement.
“Any further delay in the start of palliative care would not be appropriate without a court order.”
A Supreme Court judge has ruled that ending the treatment is in Archie’s best interest, after examining the evidence.
The youngster’s parents, who are divorced but both live in Southend, Essex, failed to convince the Court of Appeal judges to overturn that ruling and the Supreme Court judges have refused to intervene.
Archie’s parents are supported by a campaign organization called the Christian Legal Center.
A spokesperson for the center announced its latest move, saying it had made a “last-ditch request”.
“Archie’s parents want the UN commission to consider Archie’s case, arguing that it has a protocol through which ‘individuals and families’ can file complaints about violations of the rights of people with disabilities,” the spokesperson said.
“The family argues that stopping treatment would violate the UK’s obligations under Articles…of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and under an Article of the UN Convention on children’s rights.”
Archie’s parents have asked hospital bosses to continue treatment until the UN considers the matter.
Judges heard that on April 7, Ms Dance found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head.
She thinks he entered an online challenge.
The boy has not regained consciousness.
Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, believe he is brain stem dead and say continuing life-support treatment is not in his best interests.
The bosses of the hospital’s board, Barts Health NHS Trust, had asked for decisions about what medical steps would be in Archie’s best interests.
A Supreme Court judge, Mrs Justice Arbuthnotinitially considered the matter and concluded that Archie was dead.
But appeals court judges upheld his parents’ objection to Ms Arbuthnot’s decisions and said the evidence should be reviewed by another Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice Hayden.
Archie’s parents released a letter they had received from a UN official in Geneva following their application.
The letter said there had been a request to the “state party” to “abstain from withdrawing life-saving medical treatment” while the matter was “under consideration by the committee”.
He said the request “did not imply that a decision has been made on the merits of the case in question”.