SW News: The family of Archie Battersbee, the 12-year-old boy who died recently following the withdrawal of life support in the UK, called for an investigation “on what has happened to Archie”.

In a statement, the family said, "we want something good to come out of this tragedy and the horrendous experience we have been put through by the system”. They expressed gratitude to their legal team and others who stood with them.

Archie had been hospitalized since April, after falling into a coma while participating in an alleged online game. It was his mother who found him unconscious at their home in Southend, Essex. The boy, who got baptized into the Catholic Church this April, was completely bedridden with life-supporting machines at The Royal London Hospital.

The hospital officials insisted on removing the life-supporting machines from Archie saying that the boy was “brain-stem dead”. The parents, who were reluctant to this proposal, approached the courts for legal support. But the courts ruled in favor of the doctors.


“No parent or family must go through this again,” they said. The family expressed grief that their rights were denied and were sidelined by the system, adding that they had to fight for "Archie's real ‘best interests’".