News

Parental consent for puberty suppressing treatment

The High Court has handed down judgment confirming that parents of have the right to consent to puberty blocking treatment on their children's behalf.

The application was brought by AB, the mother of a trans girl, XY, who feared she would be unable to continue puberty-blocking treatment following the judgment of the Divisional court in R (Bell) v Tavistock [2020] EWHC 3274, the appeal of which is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal in June 2021.

Lieven J, granting the application sought, held that parental rights continue to exist, whether or not a child has achieved Gillick competence and that, accordingly, parents are able to consent to puberty-suppressing treatment on their children's behalf where this is a treatment that their children wish to pursue and for which there is clinical support.

Fenella Morris QC and Nicola Kohn acted for the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust instructed by Corinne Slingo and Will Pickles of DAC Beachcroft; Victoria Butler-Cole QC, Alex Ruck Keene and Katherine Apps acted as advocates to the court.

Please see below for further coverage of the case:

The Independent The Telegraph Daily Mail Reuters Mental Capacity Law and Policy