‘The baby has to come out’: Court-authorised caesarean when subject-matter and litigation capacity are disputed

By Ruby Reed-Berendt, 3rd March 2023 The woman at the centre of this case (SEM) was 32 years old and pregnant with her first child. The Trusts responsible for her obstetric and psychiatric care had made an application that it would be lawful to carry out a caesarean section, notwithstanding that  – in the view of all theContinue reading “‘The baby has to come out’: Court-authorised caesarean when subject-matter and litigation capacity are disputed”

Court-authorised caesarean section for a mother with sickle cell disease who wants her baby to “see her face first”

I was struck when RO said “I don’t want to kill my baby”. I was already feeling disappointed for RO throughout the hearing, but these words left me feeling extremely sad for her. Was she feeling like the clinicians involved in her care were viewing her as killing her baby? 

Capacity and elective caesarean

By Samantha Halliday, 26 January 2022 I have written extensively about court-authorised obstetric intervention[i] but I’ve always relied upon reported decisions.  I am acutely aware that as Rosie Harding has commented: “When only the judgment is available for academic scrutiny, we cannot be clear as to the ways that the various submissions were framed”.   That being the case,Continue reading “Capacity and elective caesarean”