‘When life-support is removed I will continue to give him oxygen’
The mother of Archie Battersbee has said she will give her son mouth-to-mouth if it means he can spend his final days in a hospice.
Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, are in the process of trying to get their son transferred to a hospice so he can die “with dignity.”
They have filed an application to the High Court to have him moved from Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, East London.
But doctors have warned there is a “considerable risk” in moving the 12-year-old.
In a statement, Dance said that she will “continue to give him oxygen” if his life support is removed.
She said: “If Archie is denied oxygen if and when life-support is removed I will continue to give him oxygen – I pray that the High Court will do the right thing
“If they refuse permission for us to take him to a hospice and for him to receive palliative oxygen it will simply be inhumane and nothing about Archie’s ‘dignity'”.
She added: “What is dignified in dying in a busy hospital room full of noise with the door open, people coming in and out continuously, when Archie could be in a very peaceful garden with squirrels and wildlife running around to have his life support withdrawn there.”
This comes after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) refused a request from the parents to delay the withdrawal of their son’s treatment.
Archie has been in a coma since being found unconscious by his mother at their home in Southend, Essex. Dance believes her son may have been taking part in the dangerous “blackout” social media craze, where people choke themselves until they pass out.
The youngster’s life support had been due to be withdrawn on Wednesday but was delayed for the ECHR to consider his family’s appeal.
However, the ECHR said it “would not interfere” with the UK courts’ rulings. That came after the Supreme Court in the UK also rejected a plea from the family.
An earlier intervention from the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) to keep Archie alive was also rejected this week.
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