Archie Battersbee’s father spends night in hospital after being taken ill

A family spokeswoman said on Tuesday that Paul Battersbee was ‘OK now’ and should be released before the end of the day.
Archie Battersbee’s father, Paul Battersbee (James Manning/PA)
PA Wire
Brian Farmer26 July 2022

The father of a 12-year-old boy at the centre of a life-support treatment fight has spent a night in hospital after being taken ill shortly before Court of Appeal judges ruled that the youngster could be disconnected from a ventilator, a family spokeswoman says.

Appeal judges were told on Monday that Archie Battersbee’s father, Paul Battersbee, who is in his 50s, was feared to have suffered a heart attack or stroke outside a courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

A family spokeswoman on Tuesday told the PA news agency that Mr Battersbee had spent a night in hospital but was “OK now” and should be released before the end of the day.

Archie Battersbee (Hollie Dance/PA)
PA Media

A lawyer representing Mr Battersbee and Archie’s mother Hollie Dance say they are considering a challenge to the appeal judges’ ruling.

David Foster, based at law firm Moore Barlow, said Ms Dance and Mr Battersbee, who are separated but both live in Southend, Essex, plan to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Appeal judges Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the Family Division of the High Court and the most senior family court judge in England and Wales, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Peter Jackson on Monday upheld a ruling by a High Court judge who concluded that doctors could lawfully stop providing life-support treatment to Archie.

Judges have heard that Ms Dance found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7.

She thinks he might have been taking part in an online challenge.

Hollie Dance (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
PA Wire

The youngster has not regained consciousness.

Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, think he is brain-stem dead and say continued life-support treatment is not in his best interests.

Bosses at the hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, had asked for decisions on what medical moves were in Archie’s best interests.

Another High Court judge, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, initially considered the case and concluded that Archie was dead.

But Court of Appeal judges upheld a challenge by his parents against decisions taken by Mrs Justice Arbuthnot and said the evidence should be reviewed by Mr Justice Hayden.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in