What happened to Archie Battersbee?

On April 7, Archie Battersbee was discovered unconscious with a cord around his neck at his family’s home. Archie was taken to Southend University Hospital and subsequently to Royal London Hospital, where he is still unconscious and on mechanical ventilation.

Archie’s doctors at the Royal London Hospital in east London believe he is “very likely” dead and that life-support treatment should be stopped. On Thursday, May 12, officials from the hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, sought a judge, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, to decide that a test to determine if Archie was brain-stem dead would be in the best interests of the boy.

The brain stem, according to a scientist, is accountable for the functions that keep individuals alive. Ms Dance, Archie’s mother expressed her displeasure with the decision, saying it has been “total anguish watching my other children hear over and over from the hospital trust that my child is already dead.”

Archie’s mother and Archie’s father, Paul Battersbee, have raised concerns about the test’s reliability and want the youngster’s treatment to continue.