Working in the health service, I often hear families’ concerns or reasonable complaints framed as them being ‘anxious’ about their loved one’s care. I think it can be a manoeuvre to delegitimise their (often perfectly reasonable) concerns and belittle their status as a full participant. Conversely, I don’t hear the word ‘anxious’ being used about powerful professionals when they speak up or raise concerns.
Tag Archives: Legal Practice
Delays for “a most distinguished man” deprived of his liberty
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”
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”
“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.
A review of transparency and open justice in the Court of Protection
By Daniel Clark, 13th November 2024 Headlines in 2016 described the Court of Protection as a “most sinister” and “most secret” court. It ‘left a 94-year-old without savings or dignity’. Looking back from the perspective of 2024 at the early years of the Court of Protection (since its modern incarnation in 2007), it is clearContinue reading “A review of transparency and open justice in the Court of Protection”
Cross-jurisdictional challenges and Schedule 3 in a case of anorexia: Health Service Executive of Ireland v SM [2024] EWCOP 60
By Sydney White, 11th November 2024 This case (COP 13398706) concerns a young woman (SM) with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa and a history of depressive episodes. She’s “habitually resident” in Ireland but has for some time been receiving treatment at Ellern Mede, a specialist eating disorder provider in England. Hayden J has heard this case beforeContinue reading “Cross-jurisdictional challenges and Schedule 3 in a case of anorexia: Health Service Executive of Ireland v SM [2024] EWCOP 60”
A is back home and taking her medication voluntarily: The final hearing in Re A (Covert Medication: Closed Proceedings)
By Claire Martin, 23rd October 2024 Editorial note: Another observer (Meg Niven Withers, a social worker) also watched this same hearing and has blogged separately here: Moving forward in Re A (Covert Medication: Closed Proceedings): A social work perspective The case (Re: A) has been in the Court of Protection since 2018 and we’ve been following itContinue reading “A is back home and taking her medication voluntarily: The final hearing in Re A (Covert Medication: Closed Proceedings)”
Can the court require certain information to be reported and specific words to be used as a condition of publication about proceedings?
‘The court gives permission asked for in paragraphs 1 & 2 on condition that […] the family members are referred to as “they/them” instead of [xxxxxxxx redacted – the words were conventional gendered pronouns]…. any publication should record that there was no formal application made by any party to convert the proceedings from private to public, save for there being a short discussion at the beginning of the hearing’
Fifteen Top Transparency Tips for Judges
By the Core Team of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project, 15th October 2024 The Open Justice Court of Protection Project (henceforth OJCOP) was founded by Celia Kitzinger and Gill Loomes-Quinn in June 2020 to support and promote the judicial aspiration for transparency in the Court of Protection, by encouraging members of the publicContinue reading “Fifteen Top Transparency Tips for Judges”
Elucidating the meaning of deprivation of liberty orders: HHJ Burrows and local authority at cross-purposes on DOLS and care plans
By Celia Kitzinger, 10th October 2024 Update: The judgment has now been published (click on the link in the title of the case): Bury Metropolitan Borough Council v EM & Ors [2024] EWCOP 76 (T2). The judge refers to the protected party as “Emma” in that judgment, so I’ve amended this blog to reflect that.Continue reading “Elucidating the meaning of deprivation of liberty orders: HHJ Burrows and local authority at cross-purposes on DOLS and care plans”
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 