Archie Battersbee: Supreme Court will not intervene in life-support case

The parents of a boy at the centre of a life-support treatment fight have failed to persuade the Supreme Court to intervene.

Archie Battersbee, 12, was found unconscious at home in Southend, Essex, on 7 April.

They wanted Supreme Court justices to bar hospital bosses from stopping treatment until they had time to make an application to the UN.

However, three justices have refused their application.

Archie has not regained consciousness since he was found by his mother, Hollie Dance, who believed he had been taking part in an online challenge.

Following the application refusal by the Supreme Court Ms Dance said she would keep fighting and their lawyers were seeking assurances doctors would not stop treatment until they could apply to the UN.

She said: "Words cannot describe how devastated we are. The pressure put on us from the beginning to rush through the process of ending Archie's life has been disgraceful."

"We will continue fighting for Archie and will not give up."

Doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, think he is brain-stem dead and said continued life-support treatment was not in his best interest.

Two judges in two separate hearings at the High Court ruled life support could lawfully end, which resulted in Archie's parents taking the case to the Court of Appeal.

Three appeal judges on Monday upheld the latest High Court ruling.

An urgent hearing at the Supreme Court was convened earlier and a panel of three justices considered submissions, but refused their application.

In a statement, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said: "Having considered the careful judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered by Sir Andrew MacFarlane (president of the Family Division) and the application for permission to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision in relation to the stay, the panel has refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court."

Archie's parents Ms Dance and Paul Battersbee wanted to appeal to the UN under a protocol which they said allowed individuals and families to make complaints about violations of disabled people's rights.

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