Court rules ‘brain dead’ boy must come off life support
A 12-YEAR-OLD boy has already been dead for two weeks and should be taken off life support, a High Court judge has ruled in a landmark case.
Doctors treating Archie Battersbee at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, thought that the youngster was “brain-stem dead”.
It is believed to be the first time someone has been declared “likely” to be dead based on an MRI scan, rather than the usual brain-stem test.
The doctors had argued life-support treatment should end and the teenager should be disconnected from a ventilator, prompting a court battle as his parents Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee pointed out that his heart is still beating.
Archie was found unconscious at home in Southend, Essex, on April 7 and has not regained consciousness since.
Ms Dance fears he was taking part in the highly dangerous “blackout” social media craze, in which people choke themselves until they pass out.
Yesterday, High Court judge Mrs Justice Arbuthnot ruled that the boy died “at noon on May 31 2022”, based on MRI scans that day, and the Barts Health NHS Trust can stop treating him.
The family, backed by the Christian Legal Centre, plan to appeal.
“Basing this judgment on an MRI test and that he is ‘likely’ to be dead, is not good enough,” Ms Dance said.
Doctors could not conduct a brain stem test, which is the approved test for neurological death under Royal College guidelines. Instead they used MRI and CT scans – which Dr Daniel Shewmon, a US neurologist of 40 years brought in as an expert witness, told the court were “absolutely not” a basis for a reliable diagnosis of death in Archie’s case.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “This ruling sets a troubling precedent.”