Supreme Court refuses permission to appeal in Archie Battersbee case

02/08/22

On 29 July 2022, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities made a request to the UK Government pursuant to Article 4 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities asking that the UK should refrain from ceasing to provide life-preserving medical treatment to Archie Battersbee.  On 1 August 2022, the Court of Appeal held that that the request did not justify a further stay of the decision of the domestic courts that withdrawing such treatment was in Archie Battersbee’s best interests.

An application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision was made earlier today. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care was granted permission to intervene in that application, and the Court (Lord Hodge, Lord Kitchin and Lord Sales) considered the Secretary of State’s submissions in reaching its decision to refuse permission to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal.

The reasons for the Supreme Court’s decision can be read here.