Calibrating the definition of ill-treatment by reference to the victim: an...
Whorlton Hall hospital housed patients with longstanding learning disabilities and significant additional psychological and behavioural needs, who required specialist care. Some were detained under s.3...
View ArticleMental capacity law, sexual relationships and intimacy – in conversation with...
In this ‘in conversation’ with, I talk to Professor Beverley Clough and Dr Laura Pritchard-Jones about the edited collection that they have recently pulled together on Mental Capacity Law, Sexual...
View ArticleBook Review: Anselm Eldergill, Matthew Evans and Eleanor Sibley, European...
Book Review: Anselm Eldergill, Matthew Evans and Eleanor Sibley, European Court of Human Rights and Mental Health (Bloomsbury, 2024, 1301 pp, paperback / ebook c £150) European Court of Human Rights...
View ArticleThe CQC and DoLS – the need for a ‘substantial intervention’
In its most recent State of Care Report, the CQC has a lengthy and detailed ‘area of concern’ section on DoLS, the key findings being as follows: Too many people are waiting too long for a Deprivation...
View ArticleCross-border protection and capacity
The Health Service Executive of Ireland v SM [2024] EWCOP 60 (T3) is the sequel to a decision in 2020 concerning SM, an Irish citizen with a number of complex mental health needs. The application was...
View ArticleMental Health Bill introduced into Parliament
The Government introduced the Mental Health Bill into Parliament on 6 November. It draws on the work of the independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983, chaired by Sir Simon Wessely, that reported...
View ArticleAnnotated Mental Health Act 1983 with changes proposed in 2024 Mental Health...
The Mental Health Bill published on 6 November comes with explanatory notes. It does, however, require extensive cross-referencing to the MHA 1983 in order to make sense of what, exactly, it would do....
View ArticleMental capacity in civil proceedings – the final report of the Civil Justice...
At its July 2022 meeting, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) approved the creation of a working group to look at a procedure for determining mental capacity in civil proceedings. The working group (of...
View ArticleKim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – some questions
Kim Leadbeater MP’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has now been published. At the risk of sounding unduly pompous, and despite having been involved in litigation about this issue and...
View ArticleCoercion, control and powers of attorney – a dilemma for the court
Re CA (Fact finding – capacity – inherent jurisdiction – injunctive relief) [2024] EWCOP 64 (T3) is a decision which is very helpfully summarised in the case title. In headline terms, it involved the...
View ArticleAssisted dying / suicide proposals in the United Kingdom and surrounding...
To enable Parliamentarians (and others) better to understand the state of play with legislative proposals around the United Kingdom and surrounding Crown Dependencies, I have prepared a table comparing...
View ArticleA Strasbourg shot across the bows for the MCA 2005
The decision of the European Court of Human Rights in ET v Moldova [2024] ECHR 858 is one with ramifications extending significantly beyond Moldova. It concerned the inability of the applicant, who had...
View ArticleBest interests decision-making as an aspect of good clinical governance – and...
NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board v Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability & Anor [2024] EWCOP 66 (T3) is the most recent in a sequence of decisions given by Theis J regarding best...
View ArticleThe MHA, ‘detainability,’ and judicial scrutiny (and the real underlying...
At the heart of the decision in Re SB [2024] EWHC 2964 (Fam) is the ongoing crisis in supporting children with complex needs. Those issues are discussed in detail in chapter 14 of the Law Commission’s...
View ArticleDiscrimination and the dismissal of complaints by those with cognitive...
The decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Clipea & Grosu v Moldova [2024] ECHR 867 is the second decision in short order concerning Moldova with much wider ramifications. This case...
View ArticleAssisted dying – a tale of three Bills
During the pandemic, everyone had a crash course in constitutional theory, learning what was law and what was merely guidance when it came to what they could and could not do inside and outside their...
View ArticleBest interests, wishes and feelings: a worked example in an imperfect world
Aberdeenshire Council v SF (No 4) (Residence) [2024] EWCOP 67 (T3) is the most recent in a long-running series of decisions concerning SF, a Scottish woman in her 40s with moderate intellectual...
View ArticleProperty and affairs deputyship applications – the digital route will be...
In a letter sent out on 18 November 2024, HMCTS has confirmed that Court of Protection Practice Direction 9H is being updated to confirm that from 4th December legal professionals must submit...
View Article“Death is a social event with a medical component, not a medical event with a...
“Remember that death is a social event with a medical component, not a medical event with a social component. The larger part of dying happens outside of the institution and professional care.” In a...
View ArticleBook Reviews: NHS Law and Practice (2nd edition) and Making Lawful Decisions...
Legal Action Group have recently sent me two books to review, one very long, and the other very short. This review can be short. They are both excellent. In slightly greater detail, the long (1114...
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