I will preface this by saying I've only followed this quite loosely but I've tried to broadly keep up with events.
I will also say that it's very clear that the decision to let Archie slip away is the right one, and that Hollie is just desperately trying to cling on. I imagine if you felt your son's body grip your hand tightly, it would be hard to believe it's just a spasm/electrical impulse etc and not a sign of consciousness. We'd all hope to be more rational than Hollie is being, but honestly it really is a case of there but for the grace of god go I. I pray that I never have to find out what I would do.
The only question I had was whether the hospitals/doctors have handled this as sympathetically as they could. I don't know the answer to this, so I'm asking the question.
There's a world of difference between making up mad conspiracy theories and suggesting that the consultants/decision makers/management are being a bit hostile and abrupt.
I know I've been in hospitals in the past, including children's hospitals, where the medical decisions were spot on but the attitude of the consultant was horrible. But it's almost become taboo to suggest that a doctor/NHS staff could be anything other than perfect.
It's entirely possible that they're making the correct medical decisions but haven't been as sympathetic as they could to Archie's family. And reading some of the presumptions about Hollie on here, I wonder if they jumped to similar conclusions...?
The timelines feel that the hospital are pushing to pull the plug on Archie ASAP. I know this has been going on since April but it's been a constant legal fight. Reading the news, it feels almost like once the court ruling is made, Archie's family are up against the clock to get their next legal challenge in before the hospital switch off the machines.
I might be missing something here but it feels like the hospital are trying to rush through switching it all off even if it doesn't give Hollie etc time to pursue a legal challenge through every avenue, which she IS entitled to do (even if we don't agree with it). Like today for example - the machines were due to go off at 11am, and the hospital has said that if the EHCR papers aren't lodged by 9am they'll proceed as planned. That just feels wrong to me. I know this is horrible and dragging on, but if there's a legal process that Hollie is allowed to follow, then their aggressive timeline feels a bit - off?
Please, please don't misunderstand me. I don't think she's got a hope in hell of winning, and it would be kinder for all if she could just accept it. It's so very sad. And I also accept that Hollie is a bit of a divisive figure for many reasons.
Maybe I am missing something - I'm totally open to that possibility. My initial inclination though is to think that the way the hospital have handled this isn't the nicest. If I remember rightly, Charlie Gard's parents had a few days after the final ruling. I don't know, I trust the hospital's medical judgement implicitly, but I'm just not sure at all about how they've chosen to handle it.