She told Sky News: “I must just put on record my deepest sympathies for the family of Archie Battersbee, I cannot begin to imagine what he and his family have been going through.”
She added: “I think generally, yes, parents do have sufficient rights. The legal presumption is that parents are acting in the best interest of their children until or unless proved otherwise.”
But “in highly complex – both legally and morally – issues like these ones” there were competing factors such as medical opinion.
“That has to be weighed against the parents wishes as well, and many other factors in in these cases.”
“These are not straightforward. They’re highly, highly complex matters involving detailed issues of medicine, and medical ethics, as well as the child’s welfare.”
“And I have confidence that our courts and our judges will have looked at these issues incredibly thoroughly, incredibly sensitively, and have reached the right decision.”
‘It’s the end’
It comes as Ms Dance last night admitted the legal battle is at an “end” after the European Court of Human Rights rejected an appeal to keep Archie on life support.
Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee were denied an application on Wednesday that would have forced Barts Health NHS Trust to postpone the withdrawal of Archie’s life support.
The rejection by the ECHR came after the Supreme Court refused to force the hospital to carry on with treatment.
Ms Dance had released a statement following the ruling, repeating her vow to “fight to the end for Archie’s right to live” and suggesting the family could mount a new legal challenge so that Archie could receive treatment abroad.
However, asked by reporters outside Archie’s hospital whether this defeat felt different, she said: “It’s the end. It was the last thing, wasn’t it? And again our country has failed a 12-year-old child.”
Source: Telegraph
