By Daniel Cloake, 10th June 2021 “It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’” So reads the infamous line from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to justify the assertion that the all-important plans hadContinue reading “‘No Entry’: A committal hearing at the RCJ”
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Best interests decisions when P’s views and wishes cannot be determined
The issue at this hearing was (still) whether NW should remain in Dover House, which is what the CCG (who fund her care) argued, supported by the local authority, or whether she should return home, which is what her mother wants.
“An onlooker at someone else’s social event”: A mother’s experience of the court
I don’t understand what was decided at the hearing. I did not get anything like a bit of paper saying “This is what was decided at your court hearing”. I don’t understand why there is another hearing planned for next year. Throughout these months between now and the next hearing my belief is that Lillian is not being given the care that she needs and is not being protected. I just want my daughter to come home.
My midwife heart weeps: Opinion on a court-ordered hospital birth
What the judge has done here is to create a precedent that any woman who has an anxiety disorder and requests birth outside of the regular menu of choice may be subjected to strong-arm maternity care – or may fear it, even if in fact the legal process is never instituted. For many women the impact of these experiences during their pregnancy care and birth will cause deep and long-standing trauma.
“Not nothing”? The Late Term Foetus in the Court of Protection
The right of a capacitous pregnant person to make their own medical decisions unfettered by any consideration for the life or health of the foetus they carry has been enshrined unequivocally in UK law. As Judge LJ emphasised in the Court of Appeal in St George’s NHS Trust v S, pregnancy does not reduce a competent patient’s right to make decisions about their medical treatment, and a capacitous pregnant patient therefore has the right to make a medical decision that might cause death or serious injury to the foetus, however repugnant such a decision might seem to onlookers.
“I have agoraphobia and I had a home birth”
By Michelle Bromley-Hesketh, 28th May 2021 Editorial note (Celia Kitzinger): I contacted Michelle Bromley-Hesketh after she posted several tweets about the judgment by Holman J, as reported in the press and covered by my blog post. She said it made her “very angry”, and she was concerned that pregnant women reading about the case – especiallyContinue reading ““I have agoraphobia and I had a home birth””
Re: An Expectant Mother [2021] EWCOP 33: A lawyer’s perspective
There was no evidence before the court about the extent to which mothers with agoraphobia (or other conditions) are in fact resistant to obtaining medical intervention in the midst of labour if advised that it is necessary to ensure the safety of themselves or their baby. In so many of the cases about mode of delivery that come before the court, the concern of the health professionals is that there will be lack of compliance in labour. Yet in most cases, the babies are born without resort to force or the authority of the court order.
Choice, human rights and childbirth in the Court of Protection
By Rebecca Brione, 26th May 2021 Over the last two years there have been at least eight cases heard in the Court of Protection concerning place and mode of birth for women who were deemed to lack capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The case reported last week is the second in a few months aboutContinue reading “Choice, human rights and childbirth in the Court of Protection”
Human rights in maternity and the Court of Protection
Specialist perinatal mental health midwives (as well as consultant midwives who have a remit for perinatal mental health) are frequently involved in complex birth planning for women with significant mental health disorders. We have experience of creating individualised birth plans for women with severe anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychotic illness, as well as agoraphobia. Our experience is that in all these cases, there were safe and happy outcomes – without recourse to court orders or forced hospital transfer.
Phobias, paternalism and the prevention of home birth
At the conclusion of a three-day hearing, Mr Justice Holman declared that P lacked capacity to make the relevant decisions and ordered that it was lawful and in her best interests for medical staff to transfer her to hospital a few days before her estimated due date, and for medical professionals to offer her a choice of induction of labour or Caesarean Section in hospital.
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 