The 12-year-old boy has been in a coma since he was found unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7. Archie’s mother and father Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee had asked High Court judges for more time to continue their fight after a court ruled earlier this week that his ventilator could legally be switched off. They wanted High Court judges to ban hospital bosses from stopping life-support treatment until they could apply to the UN. But this afternoon, three judges denied their request. “The parents of Archie Battersbee submitted their application for appeal to the High Court earlier today,” a High Court spokesman said in a statement. “They sought a stay of the Court of Appeal’s decision to allow life support treatment to be withdrawn from their child. “Aware of the urgency of this matter, the court convened a panel of three judges who considered the parties’ submissions ‘on paper’, in the usual manner. “Having considered the Court of Appeal’s careful decision … the panel refused leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.” Archie’s parents say the UN has a protocol that allows “individuals and families” to file complaints about violations of the rights of people with disabilities. They say the United Nations could ask the UK government to delay the withdrawal of Archie’s life support while a complaint is investigated. A spokesman for the Christian Law Centre, which supports Archie’s parents, said Archie’s parents wanted to approach the UN rather than the European court. “The UK has acceded to the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which gives people the right to complain about any violations of the Convention to the UN Committee,” he said. “The committee has previously criticized the UK system which authorizes the withdrawal of life support from disabled people based on a judicial determination of their best interests rather than their own wishes.” Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, believe he is dead from his brain stem and say continued life support treatment is not in his best interests.
