Archie Battersbee's family slam hospital over 'horrendous experience' after 'barbaric' death | The Sun
ARCHIE Battersbee's family have slammed the hospital where he was treated after his "barbaric" death yesterday.
In a new statement released hours after the 12-year-old's life support was withdrawn, they blasted their "horrendous" experience.
And they called for a probe after being "backed into a corner by the system".
Archie had been unresponsive since he was fatally injured on April 7 at his home in Southend, Essex.
His mum Hollie Dance believes he'd been taking part in an online "blackout challenge" when he accidentally asphyxiated himself.
Hollie had been fighting for medics at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel to continue ventilating Archie.
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However, treatment stopped yesterday after a series of judges said it wasn't in his "best interests" as Archie had suffered irreversible brain stem death.
In their statement today, the family said: "We have been forced to fight a relentless legal battle by the Hospital Trust while faced with an unimaginable tragedy.
"We were backed into a corner by the system, stripped of all our rights, and have had to fight for Archie’s real ‘best interests’ and right to live with everything stacked against us."
Ella Carter, the fiancée of Archie's eldest brother Tom, told the press yesterday that there was "nothing dignified" about the youngster's death.
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"He was taken off all medication at 10am and his stats remained completely stable for two hours," she said.
"There is absolutely nothing dignified about watching a family member or a child suffocate.
"No family should ever have to go through what we've been through, it's barbaric."
Ms Dance told the media outside the hospital that Archie died at 12.15pm. She said her son "fought right until the very end".
'BARBARIC'
Speaking through tears, she said: "Can I just say, I'm the proudest mum in the world.
"He was such a beautiful little boy and he fought right until the very end, and I am so proud to be his mum."
In an interview with Sky News, recorded on Friday, Ms Dance said she was "pretty broken" and that the day had been "absolutely awful".
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"It's been really hard," she said.
"Despite the hard strong face and appearance obviously in front of the cameras up until now, I've been pretty broken."
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