How does coercive control impact upon decision-making? And what can – and should – the courts do when the victim… Read more
Coercive control, capacity and the resolution of an ethical dilemma
Category: Best interests
The Court of Protection and “the most complex Covid patient in the world”
The Court of Protection braced itself when COVID-19 hit for decisions to be placed before it about the withdrawal of… Read more
Securing autonomy – Article 8 in the balance
The contours of the issue in A Local Authority v TA & Ors [2021] EWCOP 22 were sketched out economically… Read more
COVID-19 vaccination – best interests is not code for mandatory vaccination (and a reminder you can’t fail a capacity assessment)
The decision in SS v LB Richmond on Thames and SWL CCG [2021] EWCOP 31 is different to others that have… Read more
A judgment as tribute: finding the person behind the prognosis (and thoughts on harm and dignity)
It is difficult to do better in introducing the decision in London NHS Trust v CD & Ors (Withdrawal of… Read more
Capacity, autism and indoctrination – a careful judicial navigation of a minefield
Re EOA [2021] EWCOP 20 is a complex case in relation to a 19 year old man, of wider interest… Read more
When would continuing life-sustaining treatment be unethical? Another agonising dilemma before the Court of Protection
In Re NZ [2021] EWCOP 16, Hayden J had to address, in even more acute form, the dilemma that he… Read more
A right to family life does not mean an obligation to endure one
In ZK (Landau-Kleffner Syndrome: Best Interests) [2021] EWCOP 12 the court considered the residence and contact arrangements for a 37… Read more
How long can you wait to allow the family to gather around the bedside? The agonisingly fine line between best interests and clinical appropriateness
In Sandwell And West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust v TW & Anor [2021] EWCOP 13, Hayden J considered a version… Read more
Covert medication and involving the Court of Protection
In An NHS Trust v XB & Ors [2020] EWCOP 71, Theis J has further emphasised the thin legal ice… Read more