By Jenny Kitzinger, 8th August 2025 12th August 2025: The judgment has just been published (click on the case name): The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v YD & Others (Refusal of Withdrawal of Treatment) [2025] EWCOP 31 (T3). Jenny has written a commentary on the judgment (also covering media reception of it) here: “CommentaryContinue reading “A patient with “unusual” spiritual beliefs: Is withdrawing a feeding tube in his best interests?”
Tag Archives: clinically assisted nutrition and hydration
Validity and applicability of an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment: A pre-trial review
By Celia Kitzinger, 14th May 2025 Editorial note: There is a now published judgment, following the later hearing of 22nd and 23rd May) (which will be blogged separately). Click on the link in the name of the case: Re AB (ADRT: Validity and Applicability) [2025] EWCOP 20 (T3) The man at the centre of thisContinue reading “Validity and applicability of an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment: A pre-trial review”
Determining the legal status of a ‘Living Will’: Personal reflections on a case before Poole J
By Celia Kitzinger, 5th May 2025 Editorial note: There is a now published judgment, following the later hearing of 22nd and 23rd May) (which will be blogged separately). Click on the link in the name of the case: Re AB (ADRT: Validity and Applicability) [2025] EWCOP 20 (T3) This case (COP 20006397), heard by MrContinue reading “Determining the legal status of a ‘Living Will’: Personal reflections on a case before Poole J”
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”
Family tragedy and institutional delay in best interests decisions about life-prolonging treatment
By Celia Kitzinger and Jenny Kitzinger, 9th April 2024 The judgment has subsequently been published here: NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board v PC & Ors [2024] EWCOP 31 (T3) In July 2020, a woman identified in the judgment as “PC”, collapsed at home with a cardiac arrest. This was totally unexpected: she was otherwise fit andContinue reading “Family tragedy and institutional delay in best interests decisions about life-prolonging treatment”
Capacity to litigate: A young woman with anorexia nervosa
By Celia Kitzinger, 28th February 2023 UPDATE: There are three published judgments here: Z NHS Foundation Trust & Anor v Patricia & Ors; In the Matter of Patricia; Re Patricia The white leopard – also known as the ‘snow leopard’ – is rare and elusive. There are no more than six or seven thousand left in theContinue reading “Capacity to litigate: A young woman with anorexia nervosa”
Review of court-authorised insertion of a PEG tube contrary to her wishes: Has it “all worked out” for EJ?
By Upeka de Silva, 15 February 2023 The person at the center of this case is EJ – a 27-year-old woman diagnosed with rapidly deteriorating Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). She attended A&E on crutches reporting decreased mobility in her legs in April 2022, was admitted as an inpatient, and became rapidly worse so that now she is bedContinue reading “Review of court-authorised insertion of a PEG tube contrary to her wishes: Has it “all worked out” for EJ?”
“He deserves a chance”? Continuities and shifts in decision-making about life-sustaining treatment
the family in this case was holding on to the smallest glimmer of hope to stave off the devastating certainty of loss if their loved one died. Like so many people, they also had a belief that their family member was the one who would defy the odds – he is a ‘fighter’ whose sheer determination will enable him to overcome catastrophic brain injury. They also conveyed their strong sense that the person they knew is still ‘in there’, in the warm and moving body, that looks so different from how one imagines a classic ‘coma’.
“It will all work out”: The limits of a positive attitude in the Court of Protection
We appreciate that it would be very difficult for clinicians and judges to take a path that would put EJ’s life at risk. Yet, the trauma of her autonomy being overruled, and the loss of trust in professionals and in her own agency are not insignificant considerations.
Anorexia and refusing nutrition: An observer’s perspective on A Mental Health Trust v BG
By Charlotte Buck, 4th August 2022 This case concerned Anorexia and the refusal of clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) – another sad case brought before the Court of Protection for which the circumstances are all too familiar. I have always been interested in complex medical-ethical cases and, having volunteered on hospital wards for six weeks myself,Continue reading “Anorexia and refusing nutrition: An observer’s perspective on A Mental Health Trust v BG”
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 