Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, May 09, 2025

Archie Battersbee: Who decides when life support ends?

Archie Battersbee: Who decides when life support ends?

Cases like Archie Battersbee's are extremely rare. But when disagreements occur over whether a child's life support should end, they present terrible anguish for those involved, as well as lengthy court battles.

Tragically, for a small number of children who become critically ill each year, medicine reaches its limits, says Prof Dominic Wilkinson, an expert in medical ethics, and Consultant Neonatologist at the University of Oxford.

"For children like Archie, doctors cannot make them better, and advanced medical techniques and technologies may end up doing more harm than good. Sometimes, all medicine can do is to prolong the inevitable."

Prof Wilkinson says that in the vast majority of cases, parents and doctors are able to come together to agree on what would be best for a seriously ill child. Sometimes medical teams may need external help to reach an agreement.

"For example, they may draw on a clinical ethics committee, or independent mediation, or may seek second opinions from specialists in other hospitals.

"In a tiny proportion of cases, if parents and doctors cannot agree what would be best for a child who is stuck on life support in an intensive care unit, the right thing to do is to ask the court to help."

The court does not side with either doctors or parents. It focuses exclusively on what would be best for the child.

Archie's case had been heard in several top courts. His doctors said it would be in his best interests for treatment to be withdrawn.

The 12-year-old had spent months in hospital on life support, since being discovered unconscious at his home in April. The medics treating him at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel said he had suffered such devastating brain injury at the time of the incident that there is no way he would recover.

Archie, pictured with his mother Hollie Dance, who asked for more time to allow her son to recover


Archie's parents said they do not understand the rush to end his life-support.

So who should decide that medical care should stop, and how?

Palliative care professor Baroness Finlay of Llandaff hopes independent mediators can be used in future as "adversarial conflict doesn't help anybody".

Speaking to Times Radio this week, she said: "I'm hoping that by the end of the summer we'll have an inquiry into different ways of handling these very, very difficult cases so that there is independent mediation.

"And I say independent because, if it's supplied by the hospital, or it's supplied by the parents, one side may feel mistrustful of the other.

"But to be in the situation of adversarial conflict doesn't help anybody. The parents don't want to go to court. The doctors don't want to go to court. The managers don't want to go to court.

"My worry is that these cases are going forward to court too quickly and too early, and that we need an alternative way of managing the communication between the doctors and the parents, and sometimes others in the family as well."

What that independent mediation might look like is unclear.

Dr Daniel Sokol, medical ethicist and barrister, said sometimes the courts must be the independent adjudicator. But that doesn't stop society drawing judgements.

"When these cases reach the press and social media, a distorted, sometimes one-sided picture of what is really happening is painted," said Dr Sokol.

"Without reading the court judgments or knowing the full details, people suddenly become experts in medical ethics, commenting aggressively on the rights and wrongs of the case, blaming the clinicians, the hospital, the relatives or whoever holds a different position to their own.

"This can cause real harm to the targets of their abuse and may dissuade clinicians from challenging parents in the future, even though the latter may be making decisions contrary to the interests of vulnerable patients.

"I have been told by paediatric doctors that they are reluctant to go against the views of parents, given the torrent of abuse they received in previous high-profile cases."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Incident Reflection: A Harsh Reality Check
Pakistani migrants to Danish man: “ “We have 5 children while you have 1 or 2. In 10 years, there will be more Pakistanis than Danes here.“
Clashes Erupt in London as Tensions Rise Between Indian and Pakistani Communities
Specialized anti-drone weapons deployed among security personnel Ahead of Papal Funeral
How do you fix this culture?
×