Twelve-year-old Archie Battersbee is at the centre of a life-support treatment fight.
Image source, Hollie DanceThe parents of a boy at the centre of a life-support treatment fight have failed to persuade the Supreme Court to intervene.
Archie Battersbee, 12, was found unconscious at home in Southend, Essex, on 7 April.
They wanted Supreme Court justices to bar hospital bosses from stopping treatment until they had time to make an application to the UN.
However, three justices have refused their application.
Archie has not regained consciousness since he was found by his mother, Hollie Dance, who believed he had been taking part in an online challenge.
Doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, think he is brain-stem dead and said continued life-support treatment was not in his best interests.
An urgent hearing at the Supreme Court was convened earlier and a panel of three justices considered submissions, but refused permission to appeal.
Image source, Hollie Dance
In a statement, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said: “Having considered the careful judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered by Sir Andrew MacFarlane (president of the Family Division) and the application for permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in relation to the stay, the panel has refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.”
Archie’s parents Ms Dance and Paul Battersbee wanted to appeal to the UN under a protocol which they said allowed individuals and families to make complaints about violations of disabled people’s rights.
Three Court of Appeal judges on Monday upheld a ruling by a High Court judge, who had decided that doctors could lawfully stop treating Archie.
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