By Jemma Woodley, Zach Moss and Upeka de Silva, 23rd June 2022 Editorial Note: The judgment has now been published: Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust v C & Ors [2022] EWCOP 28 We are three people who work for Compassion in Dying, a national charity that supports people to make their own decisions about end-of-life care inContinue reading ““She is religious and she is a fighter”: Three perspectives on best interests decision-making in the Court of Protection from ‘Compassion in Dying’”
Tag Archives: Not Secret Court
Sisters’ dispute over Deputyship – and a concern about open justice
By Daniel Cloake, 20th June 2022 Two feuding sisters (Ms J and Ms E) have asked the Court of Protection to pick one of them as a deputy after their father lost capacity to manage his finances following a series of strokes. The hearing I observed was listed on the “Daily Hearing List” on the court’sContinue reading “Sisters’ dispute over Deputyship – and a concern about open justice”
Happy Second Birthday to the Open Justice Court of Protection Project
By Celia Kitzinger, Gill Loomes-Quinn, Claire Martin and Kirsty Stuart, 15th June 2022 It’s two years ago today since two of us (Celia and Gill) launched the Open Justice Court of Protection Project, at the beginning of the pandemic. It was born of our passionate belief that “publicity is the very soul of justice” atContinue reading “Happy Second Birthday to the Open Justice Court of Protection Project”
Making Disabled Lives Visible – Reflections Two Years On
By Gill Loomes-Quinn, 13th June 2022 One of the many challenging aspects of being disabled in our society is the isolation that comes from those around you being ignorant of, and failing to comprehend, the ways in which living with impairment(s) in a disabling society impact the life of a disabled person. My own experiencesContinue reading “Making Disabled Lives Visible – Reflections Two Years On”
Fairness in court for a Litigant in Person
There’s an application for an injunction against P’s wife ordering her to move out of his house in two weeks’ time. This is because P would like to move back home (he’s currently in residential care) but she is alleged to have abused him.
Bringing a very long saga to an end: A final hearing, transparency issues, and delays with a charging decision
By Paige Taylor, 8th June 2022 On 23rd May 2022 I watched a remote hearing (COP 13585739) before Mrs Justice Lieven. I am currently a Bar course student at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, and I wanted to observe a Court of Protection hearing because I have an interest in mental capacity and disability law, particularlyContinue reading “Bringing a very long saga to an end: A final hearing, transparency issues, and delays with a charging decision”
“What good is it making someone safer if it merely makes them miserable?” A contested hearing and delayed trial of living at home
By Celia Kitzinger, 3 June 2022 The quotation in the title of this blog is (as many readers will recognise) from a judgment by Munby J. In full, the relevant passage reads as follows: A great judge once said, “all life is an experiment,” adding that “every year if not every day we have to wager ourContinue reading ““What good is it making someone safer if it merely makes them miserable?” A contested hearing and delayed trial of living at home”
Treatment delay: “My son has got disabilities but that doesn’t mean he’s a nobody”
Research has painted a troubling picture of the quality of healthcare people with a learning disability have received (or not received) over the course of the pandemic, exacerbating already high levels of health inequalities
When family members apply to become parties: A hidden and “private” (but not sinister and secret) hearing
Many people who contact the Open Justice Court of Protection Project believe that the court is deliberately obstructive of open justice. I understand why it can feel like that.
It really isn’t the case that the lists are deliberately designed to discourage us from observing hearings. It’s just that – very often – they have that effect. Having attended this hidden and “private” hearing, I can’t detect any reason why anyone would have sought to exclude me: there was nothing ‘secret’ or ‘sinister’ about it at all.
A section 21A hearing: Impressions from a veteran observer and the daughter of (a different) P in a s.21A case
By Celia Kitzinger and Anna (Daughter of P), 9th May 2022 Anna (not her real name) contacted the Open Justice Court of Protection Project towards the end of April 2022, saying that she’d been asked to attend a s. 21A directions hearing about her mother (in a care home, with Alzheimer’s) and was finding the Court ofContinue reading “A section 21A hearing: Impressions from a veteran observer and the daughter of (a different) P in a s.21A case”
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 