Cases

Summary  This case concerned PS, a 79 year old lady with what was described as an extremely serious memory impairment related to alcohol use. She had been in a sexual relationship and lived with WP for almost twenty years. By the time the matte... Read more  

Summary  Poole J has examined in some detail the requirements of Article 5(4) ECHR in the context of court authorised deprivation of liberty.  On the facts of the case before him, he held that Article 5(4) required that PQ, the subject of ... Read more  

Summary The Court of Appeal has refused permission to appeal the decision of Cusworth J in NHS North Central London ICB v PC et al [2024] EWCOP 31.  The case concerned a 31 year old woman, who suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest and collapsed a... Read more  

Summary  How far can the State be expected to go in seeking to secure the rights of those in challenging situations?  A few months after this issue was looked at (albeit slightly curiously) from the perspective of Article 2 ECHR in R (Park... Read more  

SummaryThis private hearing, without notice to P or her mother due to a flight risk, was to determine whether, in the absence of a capacity assessment, there was reason to believe that P lacked capacity to make the relevant decisions and, if not, whe... Read more  

Summary  When medical treatment can be considered to be a futile is an important, but sometimes difficult, question. What can make it difficult in the context of those with impaired decision-making capacity is the need to ensure that the concep... Read more  

Summary This case concerned a young man, AA, in a prolonged disorder of consciousness, identified by the treating team as being on the border of a vegetative state/minimally conscious state-minus. His parents did not agree either with his diagnosis ... Read more  

Summary  North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust & Anor v KAG & Ors [2024] EWCOP 38 (T3) is a case confirming the hard-edged nature of s.63 Mental Health Act 1983. It concerned a woman, KAG, who developed severe depression and in... Read more  

Summary In this case, the Vice-President of the Court of Protection, Theis J, gave a careful and considered judgment about the continuation of clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (‘CANH’) of Z, a 70 year old man in a prolonged disorder of co... Read more  

Summary  In this case, HHJ Burrows was confronted, to his considerable (and understandable) disquiet, with the need to determine whether an 18 year old man had capacity to make decisions about engaging in sexual relations with others.  His... Read more  

Summary This case concerned the best interests of a 27 year old man with a moderate learning disability, and visual and hearing impairments. At heart, it was a dispute between his mother, who had (in her own words) brought him in a “very alternative... Read more  

Summary  John McKendrick KC has answered a question which, as he noted, had curiously not been answered since the MCA 2005 came into force – namely how far-reaching a set of injunctive measures it can grant to compel compliance with its orders.... Read more