By Celia Kitzinger, 11th June 2023 Cases in the Court of Protection often run for years – especially in the county courts, which is means the majority of all hearings. So we often find ourselves watching a third, or a sixth, or an eighth hearing in a single case, without having observed any of theContinue reading “‘Refusing to engage’: A first hearing”
Tag Archives: Open Justice
Struggling with transparency and a family under stress
By Celia Kitzinger, 9 June 2023 I’ve divided this blog into two parts. If you can’t bear to hear me complaining (again) about the lack of transparency in the Court of Protection, please skip directly to Part 2, which reports on the substance of the hearing. I arrived late to the hearing (see Part 1) andContinue reading “Struggling with transparency and a family under stress”
P loses bungalow option due to assessment delays
By Celia Kitzinger, 7 June 2023 This was a thoroughly depressing hearing. I asked to observe it (COP 12446297 before HHJ Godwin) without much idea of what it was about, simply because I had some time free and noticed a hearing in Wales – which we cover less than we should. Access to the cloudContinue reading “P loses bungalow option due to assessment delays”
Pettifogging? Judge invites Office of the Public Guardian to reconsider application to revoke LPA
By Claire Martin, 2 June 2023 This was an application from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) for a declaration that P’s (purported) appointment of his wife and son as LPA and replacement LPA, respectively, for Property and Finance, was either not valid (because P lacked capacity to make the LPA) or should be revokedContinue reading “Pettifogging? Judge invites Office of the Public Guardian to reconsider application to revoke LPA”
‘It’s unclear how urgent this is’: A case concerning covert medication
By Daniel Clark, 31 May 2023 This case (COP 14023716) was heard before Theis J, via MS Teams, on Friday 26th May 2023 at 10am. It was not plain sailing for me to access this hearing but given its subject matter (covert medication) I was glad that, with a lot of help from Celia Kitzinger, I persevered. IssuesContinue reading “‘It’s unclear how urgent this is’: A case concerning covert medication”
‘Last chance saloon’: One more attempt at kidney dialysis or a move to palliative care?
By Celia Kitzinger, 25 May 2023 The person at the centre of this case (CG) is in his fifties with end stage kidney disease. He’s been having kidney treatment since 2014 and dialysis since around 2016. In January 2022 he suffered a hypoglycaemic brain injury, likely precipitated by self-neglect and poor management of his diabetes. He’s currently in aContinue reading “‘Last chance saloon’: One more attempt at kidney dialysis or a move to palliative care?”
New home for man who lives in bathroom
By Celia Kitzinger, 23 May 2023 In July 2022, the man at the centre of this case (I’ve referred to him before as “Brian”) “retreated” to the communal bathroom of the care home where he’s lived since 1993, and has, in effect, been there ever since. I wrote about him a few months ago: “Man lives forContinue reading “New home for man who lives in bathroom”
On not authorising restraint for bowel surgery
Physically restraining someone against their will to have general anaesthesia for a serious operation is something that most of us instinctively recoil from, and for good reason – namely, that it is the repression of an individual liberty and it is disrespectful to individual autonomy.
“A lively personality” in a complex medical case: Jordan Tooke and haemodialysis (with postscript)
It would be easy for the protected party at the centre of this case to ‘go missing’ amongst a sea of expert opinion. I was struck how diligently the judge (Hayden J) worked to ensure this did not happen. Indeed, this hearing was the first time I’ve seen a protected party ‘come alive’ in a hearing despite their absence in court.
The most complex of best interests: Organ donation, learning disability, and the options on the table
Ruby Reed-Berendt and Bonnie Venter, 12 May 2023 To our knowledge, the Court of Protection has only once before grappled with the issue of capacity and organ donation in the context of learning disability: when it considered the case of William Verden last year. You can read the judgment in that earlier judgment here: Manchester UniversityContinue reading “The most complex of best interests: Organ donation, learning disability, and the options on the table”
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 