By Claire Martin, 8h January 2025 (This blog was written in December 2024 and set up for automated release in January in advance of the next listed hearing in this case on 13th January 2025. Note that the Open Justice Court of Protection Project is currently closed and will be reopening on 1st February 2025) This isContinue reading “Delays for “a most distinguished man” deprived of his liberty”
Tag Archives: Court of Protection
Urgent Serious Medical Treatment on Christmas Eve
By Celia Kitzinger, 7th January 2025 (This blog was written in December 2024 and set up for automated release in January in advance of the next listed hearing in this case on 10th January 2025. Note that the Open Justice Court of Protection Project is currently closed and will be reopening on 1st February 2025.)Continue reading “Urgent Serious Medical Treatment on Christmas Eve”
“Let us be alone as a family again”: An application for unsupervised contact at Christmas
By Daniel Clark & Kim Dodd, 23rd December 2024 Like many other people, the protected party, CA, goes to church on Christmas morning and then enjoys spending the rest of the day with her family. She has done this for many years. Following court orders that all contact with her daughter must be supervised, aContinue reading ““Let us be alone as a family again”: An application for unsupervised contact at Christmas”
Capacity and Contempt of Court: The case of LB
By Celia Kitzinger, 18th December 2024 The hearing I observed on 5th December 2024 (COP 14045574) before HHJ Tucker sitting in Coventry was an application to send someone to prison. The hearing lasted for about 35 minutes and I was able to observe about 20 minutes of it, missing the beginning due to not having been sent theContinue reading “Capacity and Contempt of Court: The case of LB”
Anorexic teenager in 10-day induced coma for re-feeding: What next?
Doctors gave her a general anaesthetic, ventilated and sedated her, and fitted her with an NG tube, believing this to be in her best interests. She did not consent to any of this – there was a view that she lacked capacity, but no formal capacity assessment was mentioned. And it’s not clear (said the Official Solicitor) “how aware [she] was of the proposed treatment plan before it was put into effect”.
A mother now free to tell her Court of Protection story
By Amanda Hill, with Heather Walton and Celia Kitzinger, 10th December 2024 Something significant happened in the Court of Protection on Wednesday 30th October 2024. Not within the grandeur of the Royal Courts of Justice with a blaze of media attention, but in a regional court: Bournemouth and Poole. The case (COP14106873) was listed the evening beforeContinue reading “A mother now free to tell her Court of Protection story”
Where shall P live? And the impact of a hearing on first time observers
I noticed how distressing it was for P as she was getting up and down and throwing her arms open, throughout the hearing, when arguments were being made for different places to those she might have wanted for herself. At the times I noticed this, it was at points where I also felt very confused with what was being said. I also questioned if more had been considered around her physical health conditions rather than the focus being on mental health.
Application to appeal against judgment authorising withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment: Re XY
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”
“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”
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 