By Daniel Clark, 21st April 2023 At 2pm on Friday 14th April 2023, I observed a directions hearing (COP 13795316) via MS Teams before Deputy District Judge Chahal sitting at First Avenue House in London. I simply couldn’t follow it. Wittgenstein’s notion of language-games proposes that language only has meaning when applied in its context. In other words, it is action thatContinue reading “Opaque justice in the Court of Protection: A dispute about the validity of Lasting Power of Attorney”
Tag Archives: Lasting Power of Attorney
‘Test case’ on Lasting Powers of Attorney – with troubling delay
By Celia Kitzinger, 31st January 2023 At some point in the future, there may be a time for all of us when we can’t make decisions for ourselves. It may come suddenly, as it did for my younger sister, Polly, who was catastrophically brain-injured in a car crash in 2009. Or we may lose capacity toContinue reading “‘Test case’ on Lasting Powers of Attorney – with troubling delay”
Observing a s.21A hearing and the importance of correctly drafting a Lasting Power of Attorney
The overall tone of the meeting was very positive, non-adversarial and there seemed to be a large degree of agreement between the participants. The judge was very welcoming and the overall impression from everybody was wanting to do the right thing for P.
Trial of living at home – successful so far
By Celia Kitzinger, 9th July 2022 A woman in her nineties who’s been “trapped [in a care home] by some Kafkaesque nightmare” for more than a year, has finally returned home. The judge has yet to determine whether it’s in her best interests to stay there: this is a “trial at home” to see how it worksContinue reading “Trial of living at home – successful so far”
Capacity to make a Lasting Power of Attorney
By Clare Fuller, 3rd May 2022 I wanted to observe this hearing because it was listed as being concerned with the validity of a Lasting Power of Attorney. Here’s how it appeared in the Court of Protection list for First Avenue House in London: Midday20thApril 2022 Deputy District Judge Kaufman 13628180 CC -v- The Public GuardianContinue reading “Capacity to make a Lasting Power of Attorney”
Reflecting on Re MW and Advance Planning: Legal frameworks and why they matter
There are two specific legal frameworks at the heart of this blog, each of which I’ll address in turn. They are (1) Lasting Power of Attorney; and (2) Do Not Attempt Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decision-making.
Patient dies in hospital as Trust fails to comply with Mental Capacity Act 2005
s well as providing a range of community services in the three Boroughs. The trust employs more than 9,000 clinical and support staff and serves a diverse population of approximately one million people.
Family dispute about life-sustaining treatment: A directions hearing
By Jenny Kitzinger, 22nd December 2021 The hearing I attended on 21st December 2021 before Ms Justice Russell was yet another case which underlines the dangers of not planning ahead for possible future loss of capacity. This is what can happen to any of us, at any time, if we are suddenly brain injured, whether fromContinue reading “Family dispute about life-sustaining treatment: A directions hearing”
Health and Welfare Attorney applies for urgent hearing on life-sustaining treatment
The patient’s son and daughter had been asked to agree to the insertion of the naso-gastric tube (on about 23rd October 2021) but had not been consulted about its removal. They say they’d not been told about the removal of the tube in advance, or asked what their mother would want.
Eight Litigants in Person
My sense, for this family, was that they had not had the opportunity to have a conversation with one another about their various grievances – and they seemed to have an appetite to do so, or at least to air them and have them heard. The court setting is not able to facilitate this in the way they might have needed emotionally, yet I thought DJ McIlwaine offered a textbook illustration of how to, sensitively yet determinedly, conduct a hearing with LIPs – quite a feat with so many LIPs to boot!
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 