By Jenny Kitzinger, 4th December 2024 The Court of Appeal hearing I observed on the 26th November 2024 concerned an application for permission to appeal a Court of Protection judgment. I’d watched the original Court of Protection hearing (COP 20002405) in early November and blogged about it (“Withdrawing life-sustaining treatment: Faith and Science”). The judgment, handed down on 11th November –Continue reading “Application to appeal against judgment authorising withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment: Re XY”
Tag Archives: Best Interests
“Bureaucracy blots out the sun”: Telling Ella Lung’s story
Ella Lung, suffering from dementia, was deprived of her freedom in a care home for over two years. Her son, Richard, documented her distress and their experiences through fourteen journals. Despite bureaucratic delays and emotional turmoil, they spent precious time together before Ella’s death, raising awareness about the emotional costs of such state interventions.
Withdrawing life-sustaining treatment: Faith and Science
By Jenny Kitzinger, 25th November 2024 Update: Judgment was handed down to the parties on 11th November 2024 and is available here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewcop/2024/68. It authorises the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment on the basis that, due to severe and extensive brain damage. continuing treatment is not in the patient’s best interests. The daughter sought permission toContinue reading “Withdrawing life-sustaining treatment: Faith and Science”
“It is a process that isn’t fair”: Structural injustice in the Court of Protection
By Daniel Clark, 24th November 2024 The words, “it’s a process that isn’t fair”, were uttered towards the end of the hearing on 21st November 2024 by Alison Harvey, counsel for the protected party’s mother in this case. It’s rare to hear barristers explicitly criticise the fairness of court proceedings – and in this case, I think sheContinue reading ““It is a process that isn’t fair”: Structural injustice in the Court of Protection”
An in-person hearing on anorexia (Re CC): Observer’s rollercoaster and the role of “hope”
By Sydney White, 21st November 2024 My experience observing the final hearing of Re CC (previous hearings blogged as: Respecting autonomy in treating anorexia nervosa and Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: A brief directions hearing) was tumultuous in more ways than one. I’ll first describe my unusually challenging time as an in-person observer at the Royal Courts of Justice and howContinue reading “An in-person hearing on anorexia (Re CC): Observer’s rollercoaster and the role of “hope””
The patient with no friends or family: A challenge for best interests assessment
Jenny Kitzinger, 15th November 2024 It felt quite lonely and empty in Court 33 in the Royal Courts of Justice when I went (in person) on 14th October 2024. The case (COP 14234849) concerned a man in his early 60s who’d suffered a cardiac arrest in 2017, been resuscitated, and then remained in a prolonged disorderContinue reading “The patient with no friends or family: A challenge for best interests assessment”
A review of transparency and open justice in the Court of Protection
By Daniel Clark, 13th November 2024 Headlines in 2016 described the Court of Protection as a “most sinister” and “most secret” court. It ‘left a 94-year-old without savings or dignity’. Looking back from the perspective of 2024 at the early years of the Court of Protection (since its modern incarnation in 2007), it is clearContinue reading “A review of transparency and open justice in the Court of Protection”
Respecting autonomy in treating Anorexia Nervosa
This case concerns a young woman with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. A Trust seeks court declarations about her treatment.
Cross-jurisdictional challenges and Schedule 3 in a case of anorexia: Health Service Executive of Ireland v SM [2024] EWCOP 60
By Sydney White, 11th November 2024 This case (COP 13398706) concerns a young woman (SM) with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa and a history of depressive episodes. She’s “habitually resident” in Ireland but has for some time been receiving treatment at Ellern Mede, a specialist eating disorder provider in England. Hayden J has heard this case beforeContinue reading “Cross-jurisdictional challenges and Schedule 3 in a case of anorexia: Health Service Executive of Ireland v SM [2024] EWCOP 60”
How much court ‘oversight’ should there be in long-running COP cases?
By Claire Martin, 6th November 2024 UPDATE: An application to name the local authority (originally prevented by the terms of the Transparency Order) was successful. The local authority is Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead . This hearing (COP 11868452), before HHJ Tolson, on 23rd September 2024, at Reading County Court, was listed as a two-hour ‘fact-finding’Continue reading “How much court ‘oversight’ should there be in long-running COP cases? “
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 