A Catholic bioethics institute has said that a brain-damaged boy should not have a ventilator removed as long as there is a chance that he is alive.
Archie Battersbee, 12, was found unconscious at home by his mother, Hollie Dance, with a ligature around his neck.
She believes that the talented gymnast did not attempt suicide but had fallen victim to a social media challenge called “blackout”, in which people choke themselves up to the point that they pass out.
Doctors at the Royal London Hospital have concluded that Archie, of Southend, Essex, is “brain stem dead” and has no prospect of regaining consciousness. They want to take away his ventilator and harvest his organs for transplantation.
