Archie Batterbee’s life support is set to be switched off this morning, pending a final attempt by his family to postpone the decision.
It comes after the 12-year-old from Southend in Essex was found unconscious with a ligature over his head after believing to have taken part in an online challenge back on 7 April 2022, and has been in a coma ever since without regaining consciousness.
Declared “brain-stem dead” by medical professionals, he is being kept alive by a combination of medical interventions – including ventilation and drug treatments.
The High Court previously ruled that Archie’s treatment should come to an end and his life support should be switched off, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision, before the Supreme Court denied extensions on several occasions.
But his parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, have refused to give up their fight.
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His parents claim that stopping treatment would be in breach of the UK’s obligations under Articles 10 and 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children.
Archie Battersbee, 12, from Southend in Essex / Credit: Hollie Dance
Having been at the centre of a lengthy legal dispute over the last few months, the family’s appeal against the decision to end his treatment was refused by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, and Ms Dance said that her son’s treatment would end, unless an application was made to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) by 9am.
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Archie’s life support will be withdrawn at 11am if an application is not submitted to the ECHR in time, Ms Dance confirmed.
The Supreme Court panel said on Tuesday in its ruling that, while they have “great sympathy with the plight of Archie’s devoted parents,” they believe there is “no prospect of any meaningful recovery”, adding that: “Even if life-sustaining treatment were to be maintained, Archie would die in the course of the next few weeks through organ failure and then heart failure.”
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“The panel reaches this conclusion with a heavy heart,” the ruling said.
Archie with his mother, Hollie Dance / Credit: Hollie Dance
Barts NHS Health Trust – which runs the Royal London Hospital in east London, where Archie is being treated – said it would continue to “work with the family to prepare for the withdrawal of treatment”, but speaking after the Supreme Court’s decision, Ms Dance said she would “fight to the bitter end”.
She felt the system to decide treatment options where there is a dispute between families and hospital trusts “needs reforming dramatically,” and she hopes they have “paved the way” for any other parents wanting to go up against a trust in this country and the justice system.
A government spokesperson said in response to the ongoing fight ahead of the final bid this morning to extend Archie’s treatment that “our thoughts are with Archie Battersbee’s family at this incredibly difficult time”.
“It is right that decisions about Archie’s treatment are taken by expert doctors and the courts.”
Featured Image – Hollie Dance
News
The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Manchester United issue statement after Bruno Fernandes’ social media is hacked
Danny Jones
Manchester United were forced to issue an official statement following Bruno Fernandes’ social media being hacked.
The Man United star’s digital profile was hijacked in the wake of the defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, which saw the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup and, it’s fair to say, quite the flurry of activity online.
As if to add insult to injury, with United‘s exit from the competition, a user then commandeered the club captain’s presence to share several fake posts.
With the official Bruno Fernandes X account being targeted following the game, the club had no choice but to respond after several controversial and/or inappropriate posts, not to mention multiple instances of general anti-ownership sentiment.
In case you didn’t see any of the since-deleted posts, besides one understandably troublesome comment which read, “let’s get rid of INEOS“, others were even more provocative/inflammatory.
The comments ranged from everything between messages @ing darts player and United fan Luke Littler to influencers like KSI and Jake Paul.
Offensive language was also present in many of them.
As for the Portuguese midfielder, he also quickly clarified that he obviously had no involvement in the activity; meanwhile, despite plenty of players coming out to apologise for the defeat on Sunday night, the skipper is yet to address the disappointment directly.
The loss to Brighton confirmed that Manchester United will be playing just 40 games for the rest of the campaign – the fewest since the 1914/15 season (i.e. at the outset of the First World War) – which serves as yet another unwanted record for the club of late.
You can see the highlights for the game down below.
It is also likely to have been caretaker manager Darren Fletcher’s final game in charge of the Reds, with an interim replacement set to be appointed imminently following Ruben Amorim’s shock sacking earlier this month.
His predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also looked like the frontrunner at one point – and could still be involved in a backroom setup – but The Athletic now has it that Carrick could be is odds-on favourite to be announced before the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless, plenty of supporters still feel the problems remain deeply rooted throughout the club and that a change of personnel among the coaching staff still may not be enough…
Emily Sergeant -
3rd August 2022 
