Celia Kitzinger and Gill Loomes-Quinn, 15th June 2021 One year ago today, on 15th June 2020, we launched the Open Justice Court of Protection Project, a child of the pandemic.  It was bor…

By JH and NB (with an introduction from Celia Kitzinger), 29th January 2023 Editorial Note: The judgment has now been published: NHS Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board v JH [2023] EWCOP 2 Intr…

Specialist perinatal mental health midwives (as well as consultant midwives who have a remit for perinatal mental health) are frequently involved in complex birth planning for women with significan…

I really wasn’t sure which decision Mr Justice Hayden was going to make as I sat through the hearing. Details of all possible options were closely examined, especially the option of using a sedativ…

By Celia Kitzinger, Gill Loomes-Quinn, Claire Martin and Kirsty Stuart, 15 June 2023 Three years ago today, on 15th June 2020, Celia and Gill launched the Open Justice Court of Protection Proj…

By Ruby Reed-Berendt, 15 May 2023 Editorial note: This blog post has been temporarily removed. The matter will be back in court on Thursday 18 May 2023 at 10.30am and is open to the public. See our…

s well as providing a range of community services in the three Boroughs. The trust employs more than 9,000 clinical and support staff and serves a diverse population of approximately one million pe…

We will now investigate how it came about that an observer was admitted to a public hearing in which a salient (‘magnetic’) fact of the case was meticulously concealed (by order of the court), lead…

The Supreme Court considered the issue of whether to have capacity to decide to have sexual relations with another person, a person needs to understand that the other person must have the capacity …

By Gill Loomes-Quinn, 4th October 2023 Editorial Note: Many congratulations to Gill Loomes-Quinn, co-director of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project, who successfully defended her PhD thes…

“The dispute about RS’s treatment spread well beyond his treating team and his family. It spilled out from the bedside to the courts and into the public domain and then back again throu…

“Nine public observers attended (via MS Teams) an all-day hearing in the Court of Protection before Mr Justice Poole (COP 1353507, 30 October 2020) concerning whether or not life-sustaining t…

By Michelle Bromley-Hesketh, 28th May 2021 Editorial note (Celia Kitzinger):  I contacted Michelle Bromley-Hesketh after she posted several tweets about the judgment by Holman J, as repor…

13th May 2021 We’re delighted to bring on board two new members to join the core group of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project – Claire Martin (left photo) and Kirsty Stuart (ri…

Mum of Tony Hickmott, who has been held in a secure hospital since 2001, says: "He's coming home."

“The Official Solicitor observes that P is considered capacitous in all the areas in which she is willing to take that [medical] advice; it is only where she is not willing to follow medical advice…

If I were presented with this situation again, I would most definitely do it all again in a heartbeat. William’s situation demonstrated to me that although there are risks to being placed in intens…

At the conclusion of a three-day hearing, Mr Justice Holman declared that P lacked capacity to make the relevant decisions and ordered that it was lawful and in her best interests for medical staff…

The words of those given the diagnosis are seen as meaningless because an expression of pain is viewed as just seeking attention, and a legitimate complaint is ‘typical PD’. “Inappropriate anger” i…

By Ian Brownhill, 17 January 2024 The description of a person being found in “an awful state” is one of the most common phrases than an adult social care lawyer will read. It is a description that …

What Claire and I witnessed in the Court of Protection was a determined, serious, and lengthy attempt on the part of the judge to determine what AH would want, in the absence of any direct record t…

By Charlotte Roscoe and Celia Kitzinger, 9th July 2021 Editorial Note: This blog post concerns a case in the Supreme Court. The Open Justice Court of Protection Project normally covers only cases i…

I am sharing these thoughts in the hope that it might help other families in similar situations – and I’m writing also for the legal professionals involved in what is, for them, probably rout…

By Jenny Kitzinger, 23rd June 2021 Hearings in the Court of Protection often bring crucial issues into sharp relief in a vivid, poignant and intellectually rigorous way.  This was ce…

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 Projec…

The initial response of his treating team, says his mother, was to say there were no treatment options.  Comfort measures only were proposed and a palliative care referral was made.

Referring to NC urinating in his bedroom as a“challenging behaviour” does not (in and of itself) acknowledge the potential medical and social issues that have led to this action. It gives no insigh…

This hearing arose because a hospital trust has applied for welfare orders under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to permit them (i) to perform a full dental clearance on M in hospital under general an…

I can see why planned care for someone in a highly distressed and deteriorating state is attractive on many fronts. However, like the Court, I really struggle with the sense that there seems to hav…

“I said when I married you… I said till death do us depart, I said and that’s the way I want it because at the end of the day we shouldn’t have other people interfering and stopping us from h…

By Celia Kitzinger, 28th June 2021 Update: I’m informed that the next hearing for this case (previously listed for 2nd July 2021) has now been vacated, and is re-listed for 4th August 2021 at…

I wonder what checks and balances we can put in place to ensure that the case managers, care home managers, District Nurses, GPs, ward managers, or consultants nominally ‘in charge’ of …

By Samantha Halliday, 26 January 2022 I have written extensively about court-authorised obstetric intervention[i] but I’ve always relied upon reported decisions.  I am acutely aware that …

By Celia Kitzinger, 10 September 2023 Drawing on my experience with the Open Justice Court of Protection Project – and with some helpful input from other core team members – I submitted…

Videos posted by Dr Rogers online include assertions that masks are ineffective and that it is not “a good thing to do” to have a vaccine unless you are very elderly or vulnerable. 

“… there is a difference between open justice and comprehensible justice. It is one thing for people to be able to come to court (whether in person or, at present, largely remotely) and…

By Bonnie Venter, Monday 15th February 2021 Editorial notes: (1) For a different perspective on this same hearing, see the blog by Bridget Penhale (click here); (2) The judgment has now been publis…

Listening to this story of Lucy’s recent life, and her family’s efforts and persistence in caring for her, was quite shocking to hear – though not entirely surprising. There were so many thin…

open justice. I had a physical reaction, my gut dropping like a stone, when HHJ Howells said what she did. Their status and power makes judges intimidating.  Barristers are used to the judge addres…

By Claire Martin, 11th July 2023 One of the most draconian decisions the Court of Protection can make is to restrict contact between people who love each other and want to be together.  T…

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 h…

There was no evidence before the court about the extent to which mothers with agoraphobia (or other conditions) are in fact resistant to obtaining medical intervention in the midst of labour if adv…

By Rebecca Brione, 26th May 2021 Over the last two years there have been at least eight cases heard in the Court of Protection concerning place and mode of birth for women who were deemed to lack c…

Today I watched a hearing about whether or not a woman in her 40s is dead. She was declared dead at 11.45 on Thursday 10 March 2022, following brain stem death testing. The reason the doctors have …

Millie the golden labrador brings happiness to all the residents in the home, the manager says.

The Supreme Court considered the issue of whether to have capacity to decide to have sexual relations with another person, a person needs to understand that the other person must have the capacity …

At the end of the hearing, in her closing summary, Emma Sutton acknowledged that it was a “finely balanced” decision but came down on the side that amputation was NOT in her best interests – most e…

District Judge Glassbrook said that he recognised that there were only two options for RS: either he lived in X Home, or he returned to hospital.  “But I’m not talking about one placement compared …

“If organisations like Christian Concern are willing to spend time and money on conducting their ‘pro-life’ campaigns via courtroom litigation, and can find experts willing to act for them, t…

“It wasn’t combative like you see on the TV. Instead there was a very clear statement from the judge that these were civil proceedings and were very different from a criminal case – there was…

By Aswini Weereratne, 6th February 2023 Covert medication is the troubling practice of medicating a person without their knowledge because they have refused treatment considered medically nece…

Celia Kitzinger, 5th December 2022 This is the fifth Court of Protection case I’ve observed about someone with hoarding disorder. (Take a look at my previous blog post: “A cas…

By Anna (daughter of a P), 7th December 2023 This has been a long and difficult case, blogged about recently here). I’ve not observed a hearing in this case before  – but…

Gaby Parker and Celia Kitzinger, 30th October 2021 A man in his 40s (PH) has bronchiectasis.  Last night his oxygen levels became seriously low (79%) and doctors raised with him the …

“I’m a Year 12 student (aged 16) interested in studying Law at university but I’m not able to get any work experience due to the pandemic, so observing a Court of Protection hearing was a gre…

“…According to Julie Hinnigan, the failings in social services were in part due to lack of knowledge and support for autistic adults – especially those, like Joseph, who don’t also have…

Parents, in my experience, are the best judges, of what their children with disabilities can achieve. Our children are constantly under-estimated, set aside, and given insufficient care and support…

By Jenny Kitzinger, 30 July 2021 The hearing I attended at the Court of Protection on 15th July 2021 (Case No. 1375980T before Mr Justice Hayden) was unusual in that it was described by t…

Framing the issues around ED being a ‘dangerous young man’ served no purpose here in my view, other than to cast him in a pejorative light. I can’t see much difference between this, and the (regula…

By Bridget Penhale, 13th September 2021 I recently attended most of a 3-day Court of Protection hearing (reported in a blog post by Prof. Celia Kitzinger) concerning alleged coercive and contr…

By Gaby Parker, 29th June 2021 On 23rd June 2021 I observed a hearing (via MS Teams) before Mr Justice Hayden in the Court of Protection: COP 1354439T Re. PH.  The case was about finding a suitable…

The patient’s son and daughter had been asked to agree to the insertion of the naso-gastric tube (on about 23rd October 2021) but had not been consulted about its removal.  They say they’d not been…

“…I hope Mr A’s hunger strike works to shame the Home Office into respecting his identity – but if it does not, I would like him to choose to live, if he can bear to. Not because he wil…

The RHN clearly failed to provide high-quality, patient centred care – and part of this Court of Protection judgment is dedicated to exploring why this happened and what lessons might be learned. …

I don’t understand what was decided at the hearing.  I did not get anything like a bit of paper saying “This is what was decided at your court hearing”.  I don’t understand why there is another hea…

By Celia Kitzinger, 23rd April 2023 This was a distressing hearing to watch because as it unfolded it became increasing clear that the parents were at breaking point in trying to care for thei…

By Anonymous COP Lawyer, 3rd March 2024 (with commentary from barrister Pippa Pudney – keep scrolling down) In a recent blog post, Dr Ty Glover described his experiences working with ano…

It is a fundamental principle that justice should not only be done, but should be seen to be done. With nobody watching, ‘open justice’ is simply an abstract ideal. But how does being observed chan…

At the heart of this hearing is the question of whether P can live with her mother, who loves her and wants to care for her. Attempts to elicit P’s wishes and feelings have been unsuccessful,…

the family in this case was holding on to the smallest glimmer of hope to stave off the devastating certainty of loss if their loved one died. Like so many people, they also had a belief that their…

By Celia Kitzinger, 13th March 2022 This was an unusual hearing because of its focus on a treatment (clinically assisted nutrition)  that doctors were not willing to offer.   By…

I joined the hearing expecting to come out of it with an increased understanding and experience of the law in this area, which would complement my studies. However, to my surprise, I left with an i…

The Health Board was seeking a declaration from the court either [1] that PH does have capacity to refuse nutrition and that his wishes not to continue to be fed should continue to be respected, ev…

Suggesting that the family is lacking in objectivity because they are in some way psychologically compromised serves the purpose of undermining and discrediting their evidence.  This was not necess…