Archie Battersbee's dad admitted to hospital

The father of a boy at the centre of a life-support treatment fight spent a night in hospital after taking ill before the court ruling, a family spokeswoman says.

Archie Battersbee, 12, was found unconscious at home in Southend, Essex, on 7 April and is on life support.

On Monday, Appeal Court judges ruled that doctors could lawfully disconnect his ventilator.

His father, Paul Battersbee, was feared to have had a heart attack or stroke.

The spokeswoman said Mr Battersbee, who is in his 50s, was "OK now" and should be out of hospital by the end of the day.

Archie has not regained consciousness since he was found by his mother, Hollie Dance, who believed he had been taking part in an online challenge.

Mr Battersbee took ill shortly before Court of Appeal judges supported a High Court ruling that ending his life support was lawful and in his best interests.

They were asked to postpone their ruling as Mr Battersbee had been taken ill outside court, but they refused.

Ms Dance also wanted judges to adjourn their ruling on the basis that she had "video evidence" that indicated that Archie, who is attached to a ventilator, had twice tried to breathe for himself on Friday and Saturday.

Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital in Whitechapel in east London, had taken the case to the courts to get a ruling on what was in the best interests of Archie, who the court heard suffered catastrophic brain injuries.

Judges in two separate High Court hearings had previously ruled against his parents, who wanted treatment to continue while his heart was still beating.

On Monday, Sir Andrew McFarlane, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Peter Jackson refused to overturn the last High Court judgement by Mr Justice Hayden.

It means life support treatment can lawfully end.

Sir Andrew said medical staff had seen "no signs of life" in Archie and his "every bodily function is now maintained by artificial means".

A 48-hour delay to ending treatment was ordered so the family could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

In a statement, Ms Dance, said: "As long as Archie is alive, I will never give up on him; he is too good to give up on.

"We should not have to endlessly battle the hospital in the courts for what we believe is right for Archie."

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