Doctors at the Royal London Hospital, where the boy is being treated, believe he is brain dead and that his body will eventually collapse even if life support continues.
A lawyer for the boy’s parents told the court that his mother saw her son breathe independently of a ventilator on Friday and Saturday, the Guardian reported. mentioned.
according to Court documentsOn one occasion, Dance also mentioned that she felt Archie hold her hand. Medical staff said they saw “no sign of a spontaneous life in him,” even during the traumatic procedures.
Speaking to reporters on Monday outside London’s Royal Courts of Justice – where three appeals court judges upheld an earlier ruling that continuing life-support treatment was not in Archie’s best interest – Dance vowed not to give up the fight.
“The regime should not be allowed to do this to people,” she said. “All I have asked since day one is time. … This is my little son, and I will fight for as long as I can.”
A number of children were killed while performing the Blackout Challenge after being seen on TikTok, according to a US lawsuit filed by Nylah Anderson’s mother, 10 year old girl From Chester, Pennsylvania. Her mother found her hanged in her closet and was about to die in December. The girl – described by those who loved her as a precious, fun-loving “butterfly” – died in hospital five days later.
Other deaths mentioned in the lawsuit include A 14-year-old Australian boy In April 2020, 10 year old Italian girl In January 2021, a 12-year-old boy from Colorado In April of that year and a 12 year old Oklahoma boy In July 2021.
A TikTok spokesperson told The Washington Post at the time that the annoying “challenge,” which people seem to be learning about from sources other than TikTok, predates our platform for a long time and has never been a trend for TikTok.”
Sir Andrew MacFarlane, one of the three judges in Monday’s British court ruling, said Archie’s condition and the “terrible predicament” he and his family were in had received widespread media attention, including in a photo taken before the accident.
However, the judge said Archie was “no longer the boy in the photo”. He added that the 12-year-old is “a person whose bodily functions are now preserved by artificial means”.
The three appeals court judges said they would delay ending Archie’s treatment by 48 hours – until 2pm local time on Wednesday – to allow his parents to ask the European Court of Human Rights to hear the case.
The boy’s father, Paul Battersby, was taken to hospital ahead of Monday’s hearing after suffering a heart attack.
Jonathan Edwards contributed to this report.
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