On April 7, Archie Battersbee was discovered unconscious at his home in Southend, Essex, and doctors believe he is brain dead.
On Friday, a second High Court judge ruled that withdrawing Archie’s hospital treatment was in his best interests.
Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, will ask the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision at a hearing on Thursday.
Mr Justice Hayden ruled last week that continued treatment was “futile” and “serves only to protract his death while being unable to prolong his life.
Archie has been unconscious since his mother discovered him. She believes he participated in an online challenge.
Doctors at the Royal London Hospital in east London said tests revealed Archie was “brain-stem dead” and that continuing life support treatment was not in his best interests.
Archie’s parents, however, believe his heart is still beating.
Archie Battersbee was declared “brain-stem dead” by a first High Court judge in June.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, another High Court judge, first heard the case in June and concluded that Archie had already died.
However, Court of Appeal judges upheld Archie’s parents’ challenge to Mrs Justice Arbuthnot’s decisions and said the evidence should be reviewed at a new hearing.
Mr Justice Hayden heard a new case last week, but ruled that Archie had “no hope of recovery at all.”
He called what happened to Archie a “tragedy of unfathomable proportions.”
Ms Dance described the decision to halt treatment as a “crushing blow” outside court on Friday.
In my opinion, the planned removal of the ventilator is the worst thing that could happen.” “I don’t see how this is dignified,” she said.
