At any point in the last two years of treatment, A might have discovered the medication in her food, or been alerted to the medication by a carer. At any point her grandparents (who visited her in person) could have commented on her pubertal development and raised suspicions. Or she herself could have questioned her breast development, her hair growth or changing body shape. Was there really no contingency plan in place to deal with this?
Tag Archives: Legal Practice
A ‘hypothetical’ marriage and a snowball rolling downhill
There was a plan to provide sex and relationship education, but the COVID-19 pandemic and a failure to locate educational providers intervened and so it was sometime later when an education programme to support capacity in relation to sex and marriage was completed. A newly appointed expert then assessed P again and said that P had still not gained capacity in these areas.
A property and affairs application: Observations about P’s role and who should pay costs
Unfortunately, the timing of his reappearance in his mother’s life had led the care home and the LA to suspect that he had only sought out his mother so that he might benefit from the inheritance himself.
Reflections on open justice and transparency in the light of Re A (Covert Medication: Closed Proceedings) [2022] EWCOP 44
What happened in this case strikes at the very heart of the work of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project. It’s very unfortunate that the manner in which this case became public knowledge was via a blog post based on a misapprehension of the facts – necessitating a Statement correcting those facts.
“I have to tell you something which may well come as a shock”, says Court of Protection judge
By Daniel Cloake, 12 October 2022 Editorial Note: The Open Justice Court of Protection Project has issued a formal Statement about the case described here. This is an observer’s account of the first day of that hearing. The judgment is publicly available: Re A [2022] EWCOP 44. We subsequently raised concerns about the court’s decision toContinue reading ““I have to tell you something which may well come as a shock”, says Court of Protection judge”
Statement from the Open Justice Court of Protection Project concerning an inaccurate and misleading blog post
We will now investigate how it came about that an observer was admitted to a public hearing in which a salient (‘magnetic’) fact of the case was meticulously concealed (by order of the court), leading – surely inevitably – to inaccurate reporting.
Access to the community for P: a s.21A deprivation of liberty hearing
Judge Eldergill stated that P had mentioned wanting to be able to go to a restaurant (and there was also some mention of P being able to go to a bank). He referred to Paragraph X (of the Position Statement) which stated that the Home was concerned about P going out alone because he was at risk of absconding. However, the judge raised a point about the seemingly low likely risk of this happening, given that at another paragraph, it stated that P uses a Zimmer frame and so clearly has mobility issues.
Medical treatment for people with learning disabilities: Telling Robert Bourn’s story and the challenges of ‘transparency’
The initial response of his treating team, says his mother, was to say there were no treatment options. Comfort measures only were proposed and a palliative care referral was made.
Office of the Public Guardian steps in when attorneys don’t agree
I have made an LPA for Property and Affairs myself and was conscious at the time that they are not without their difficulties. In this case, there is a real possibility that, as P’s assets reduce, either he or his wife will have to move home and reduce their standard of living. With the best will in the world, I am not sure how this could or should be resolved, and family conflict seems almost unavoidable. In my case I have chosen to include a professional as an Attorney, accepting that this will come at a cost.
Who should take responsibility for property and financial affairs – the Local Authority or the family?
I can’t help feeling that there is a serious gap in the law which is supposed to ensure the best interests of someone who has been judged to lack capacity and yet (in the absence of an LPA) leaves their property and finances in limbo until another quite separate and lengthy legal process has taken place. I was very lucky that my mother’s house was not vandalized, as P’s house obviously had been.
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 