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Category Archives: court of protection

You’ll find us all, doing the Lambeth Walk (oy!)

Posted on September 10, 2018 by suesspiciousminds

 

Gosh, it’s been ages.  Not been any juicy cases to write about, as the big beasts of the High Court are all on holiday, but this is an odd one.

 

It is a Court of Protection case, involving a woman who lacked capacity and whether she should be transported back to her home country of Colombia, interminable wrangling about the costs of transporting a wheelchair, a Court hearing where nobody shows up much to the Judge’s chagrin, and an eventual description of the approach of the public bodies as ‘verging on petulant’  with costs orders following.

London Borough of Lambeth v MCS & Anor [2018] EWCOP 14 (31 August 2018)    

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2018/14.html

 

  1. The documents do not reveal a clear picture, but it appears at least likely that P may have been ready for discharge in 2014; self evidently by the date of P’s assessment on 9 January 2017 P was clinically stable and ready for discharge. In fact I am certain that those conditions arose much, much earlier. It should be recalled that the original application to the Court (made by P’s RPR) was itself an application dated 20 December 2016, challenging P’s deprivation of liberty, pursuant to section 21A of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, made out of frustration because, despite the local authority and the Lambeth CCG supporting P’s wish and desire to return to Columbia, they had simply failed to progress it. “Support” has always been offered, and is still, but when something concrete had to be done, they have been found wanting. Even with the institution of proceedings, it has taken a year to achieve what should have been organised much, much earlier, and significantly, proceedings should have been, and were, unnecessary; all of this could and should have been achieved outside any application.

 

Bear in mind that this woman was ready for discharge in 2014 and the unit she was in was costing £2,000 per week, there ought to have been at the very least a financial incentive to move this along and get her back to Colombia where she wanted to be.   It has cost nearly a third of a million pounds to keep someone in a place where she didn’t want to be, when she could have gone back to her home country.

(Having been rebuked on Twitter during the World Cup for conflating Columbia – the city, with Colombia the country, I am spelling it correctly during this piece, although the judgment does not)

 

The Judge captures the human misery of this awful situation very well.

 

  1. There has never been any formal provision supporting P’s need for Spanish speaking staff, which at best has been provided on an ad hoc basis. P is distressed by receiving care from people who cannot speak Spanish, this has happened almost every day, several times a day, for over 3 years. It takes very little imagination to consider how additionally miserable and isolated she must have felt. Reports describe her as distressed, feeling like she is drowning, feeling scared, complaining of pain, each impacting severely on her everyday wellbeing.

 

  1. Having now had several hearings (in an application that itself was, or should have been, as I have said, unnecessary), I can only begin to imagine P’s sense of frustration and loss at being kept here for years against her wishes, and for no good reason. As even the proceedings have demonstrated so fully, the arrangements could and should have been established and implemented long ago, years ago, but because of disorganised, muddled and unfocused decision making, and what has at times verged on an arrogance, P has just had to wait. It should be remembered that P had been kept here against her wishes, at a cost to the taxpayer of over £2,000 per week. If the authority had done what it should have done in a timely professional manner, not only could they have saved themselves over £100,000 a year, and saved the cost to the taxpayer of these protracted High Court proceedings, they could have avoided P the years of misery from being kept a prisoner here, against her will.

 

Some of the hearings in this case were just a debacle

 

 

  1. At the hearing on 16 November 2017, very distinct progress towards repatriation had finally been achieved. Frustratingly, there were however, still significant details missing, not just an interim plan if there was a delay, but there was no detailed transition plan. I have seen some of the documents in relation to this and they are depressingly scant; frankly, they are unedifying. I entertained the hope, since the remaining matters seemed really very straightforward, that it might even have been possible to agree a draft order encompassing the transfer to Columbia and the deprivation of liberty involved in that move. Accordingly I felt able to make qualified declarations (including being transported to Columbia). But a detailed and realistic transfer plan was obviously still necessary. A proposed draft transfer schedule was provided for that hearing, but it was a poor document lacking any detail, proposing transfer on 20 December 2017.
  3. In view of the history, the shocking history, I made provision for a “long stop” hearing on 13 December 2017 whilst sitting on circuit (hoping still to retain the transfer date of 20 December 2017). I do not think I ever received a position statement from the applicants, who attended by new counsel, who had been inadequately instructed. No one from the applicants, CCG or solicitors had the courtesy to attend. To say this was unfortunate (leaving aside any other issues) is an understatement. No transfer plan had been filed, and important missing detail prevented any progress being achieved. No one appeared to be qualified to make what in some instances were trifling decisions involving a few hundred pounds, e.g. innumerable communications occurred over the provision of, cost of, source of, import duty on, or who should pay for the transport of a wheelchair so urgently required by P, far, far exceeding the cost of the chair itself. Information was given to the Court in relation to, for example, the air ambulance, which subsequently appeared to be wholly misleading and totally without foundation. The approach taken was unhelpful and, at times, verging on petulant. Despite my best efforts it appeared to reflect a deeper, most unfortunate perspective that has, from time to time, permeated these proceedings. In any event, as I say, no one had the courtesy to turn up, so nothing constructive could be achieved at all. Yet again the case was listed for hearing on 19 December 2017, making detailed and contingent directions.
  5. At that hearing, absolutely astonishingly, I was told that, whilst the CCG had approved funding for P’s flight to Columbia, it had arranged its meeting inter alia in relation to the cost of transporting the wheelchair and any import duty in Columbia (see above) for 20 December 2017, the following day – apparently those concerned were rather busy with other meetings. An additional issue concerned the provision for the cost of any care if P was taken ill on the flight; who would pay, was it possible to obtain insurance? The authority, in common with its actions before and since the institution of proceedings, conducted itself without regard to anything else, certainly not the welfare of P, and yet further evidence that the institution of proceedings had had no effect. They have had no regard to Court orders, or the involvement of the Court. This hearing occurred just a day short of the first anniversary of the issue of proceedings, and still the simple goal seemed a mile away.

 

Bear in mind that the unit was costing £2000 per week, and that the hold-up was the cost of flying a wheelchair that she needed out with her, this is just crazy.  Even if you paid for the wheelchair to go first class, that’s just 2-3 weeks of the unit. And as the Judge rightly noted, it would surely have been cheaper (even ignoring legal costs) to have just bought a wheelchair in Colombia and avoided the flight costs.

 

  1. Finally, on 15 January 2018, it was possible to approve a final order. Contrary to previous occasions when either no one attended, or those present had not obtained delegated financial responsibility, on this occasion, what should have occurred much, much earlier, probably years ago, was obtainable, and significant assurances and undertakings were forthcoming for the provision of care in the unlikely event P was taken ill in transit and required hospitalisation en route. All that should have occurred several months earlier and it is entirely symptomatic of the malaise which has beset these proceedings from the outset. For which P has been the unhappy victim, and the Applicant entirely responsible.
  3. P left the UK on 25 January 2018 by air ambulance. Her move is described thus:
    1. “The move went very well. There were no health concerns en route. P remained calm, restful and slept during the journey. The ambulance crew were extremely impressive and efficient. The doctor could speak Spanish. Upon arrival P “recognised many of her relatives and smiled all over her face.””

Finally, a happy ending to a tragic story.

  1. I set out a summary of these unhappy proceedings, not just because they should not have been necessary, but to highlight the very deeply frustrating and disorganised thinking, planning and management within the authority. As a result a vulnerable adult has been kept unnecessarily miserable against her will, confined in an environment for much longer than was necessary. In my best estimate, for 3 years.

 

 

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Would I lie to you baby, would I lie to you?

Posted on March 26, 2018 by suesspiciousminds

 

 

I think Mostyn J might have preferred my original choice of title “supressio veri, suggestio falsi”   as he makes that reference within the body of the piece.  But what sort of King Canute am I, to attempt to stand in the course of the Charles and Eddie tide when it comes crashing in?

 

This is a Court of Protection judgment, in which the Court was being asked not only to approve treatment to a woman AB, who lacked capacity to consent to it, but also to actively deceive her about the treatment.  Not just to ‘supressio veri’ and conceal the truth from her, but ‘suggestio falsi’  to actively lie about it.

 

  1. I am asked to approve a treatment regime for AB, which involves the administration of medication to her on a basis of deception. Not merely passive deception, which, to use a legal phrase might be characterised as suppressio veri, but active deception, which lawyers might describe as suggestio falsi. It is debateable whether there is in fact much moral difference between the two types of deception, but what is being proposed here is a treatment regime, an administration of medication, on the basis of active deception of AB.

 

Re AB 2016 EWCOP 66

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2016/66.html

 

Mostyn J sets out that it is unusual for the Court of Protection to be asked to decide that it is in a patient’s best interests that they be deceived , and that he has not come across such a case before.

 

The facts are tragic, and explain why that was felt to be desirable.

 

  1. As I have stated, AB is HIV positive and she had contracted the disease by 2000, when she was diagnosed with it. She was of full capacity at that point, and she voluntarily sought treatment and engaged fully and consensually and willingly with such treatment until 2008.
  3. In 2008 there was a major deterioration in her mental condition, and after that her engagement with HIV treatment was interrupted. Her medical condition worsened, and I heard evidence from Dr L, consultant psychiatrist, specialising in the field of rehabilitation psychiatry.
  5. She has described to me how AB suffers from a serious psychoaffective disorder. Her evidence demonstrated to me that, although people who suffer from this disorder do, from time to time, recover, the extent of relapses in this case, and their scale, means that in her opinion it is unlikely that in the foreseeable future she will recover from her psychiatric condition. Her psychiatric condition means that she is unquestionably incapacitated under the terms of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, in relation to the decision whether to engage in anti-retroviral treatment.
  7. She was visited just the other day by a member of the Official Solicitors’ staff, who has produced an eloquent attendance note. If anyone has any doubts as to the scale of the mental challenges faced by AB they only need to read that note, which I am not going to read into this judgment.
  9. Suffice to say, that she is in the grips of very powerful delusions, which prevent her from addressing many aspects of normal life rationally. For example, she does not believe that, now, she is HIV positive. She believes that she is a participant in a film about HIV, in which she will be participating with her husband. She does not, in fact, have a husband, but she believes that she is married to a celebrity sportsman. She believes that the person who is her husband will come back for her and take her away to live in connubial bliss. She believes that when blood samples are taken from her by the hospital staff it is done by them for the purposes of drinking her blood. Above all, she is positive that she is not HIV infected, and were she to learn that she was being secretly and clandestinely administered with anti-retroviral treatment the evidence is that she would be exceedingly aggrieved.
  11. If the choice were hers, and hers alone, she would not take the anti-retroviral treatment and, on the evidence, it is clear that, were that course to be followed, having regard to previous monitoring when there have been interruptions, it is foreseeable that within a relatively short period of time her immune system would be seriously compromised and she would be exposed to the risk of death.

 

The Court had to weigh up what would be in her best interests

 

  1. In circumstances where AB is incapacitated, I have to make a decision on her behalf as to what is in her best interests. I have to consider a number of matters of a very obvious nature under Section 4 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, but by virtue of subsection (6)(a), I have to consider her past and present wishes and feelings.
  3. As far as her past feelings are concerned, up to 2008, which is when we know that she did have capacity, her conduct in that period demonstrates that her wishes were to receive HIV treatment.
  5. As far as her present wishes are concerned, there is no dispute: they are very strongly opposed to HIV treatment.
  7. Parliament has decreed that I must go on to consider not only actual wishes and feelings but hypothetical wishes and feelings, because by virtue of Section 4(6)(b) I have to consider the beliefs and values that would be likely to influence her decision if she had capacity and I am also required by virtue of paragraph (c) to consider the other factors that she would be likely to consider if she were able to do so.
  9. I am perfectly satisfied, having regard to her willing and consensual participation in treatment up to 2008, that if she had capacity (and I would interpolate parenthetically that of course if she had capacity we would not be having this case), she would unquestionably enthusiastically embrace anti-retroviral treatment, which I do not shrink from describing as a miracle treatment.
  11. The authorities are clear that wishes and feelings are important and that they must be fully taken into account, even when the party is seriously incapacitated. It is wrong, on the authorities, for this Court to conclude that because someone is seriously incapacitated their wishes and feelings are irrelevant.
  13. On the other hand, the crucial consideration that I have to have in mind is the extent to which AB’s wishes and feelings, if given effect, can properly be accommodated within the Court’s overall assessment of what is in her best interests.
  15. Like so many aspects of litigation, the test all depends upon the particular facts that the Court is presented with, and on the particular facts that I am presented with, I have no hesitation in concluding that virtually no weight should be given to AB’s present wishes and feelings. Instead, I should place considerable weight on her past wishes, as demonstrated by the evidence, and on her hypothetical wishes, which I have no doubt would be in favour of the treatment.
  17. It is, it might seem, a strong step for the Court to take: to authorise a course of medication that involves deception, and I hesitate from saying that perhaps it is not so surprising in this post-truth world in which we now seem to live, but that would be perhaps a cynical aside. However, on the facts of this case, there can be no doubt that there has to be authorised a course of action that ensures that AB, in her best interests, receives the treatment that will likely save her. It is for this reason that I am happy to approve the order that has been put before me.
  19. The order will provide, however, that if the truth emerges to AB and she moves to a position of active resistance then the matter will have to be reviewed, and the Court will have to consider, in that situation, whether to move to forced administration of these drugs, which would be a very difficult decision to make, because it would not be a one-off administration of treatment, but would be a quotidian administration of treatment, which is a very different state of affairs to that which is normally encountered in this Court.
  21. For the reasons I have given I am wholly satisfied that the treatment proposed and the means of administration are plainly in the best interests of AB and it is so authorised.

 

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An utterly misconceived application

Posted on March 21, 2018 by suesspiciousminds

Hi everybody !

 

I always like when the President opens a judgment with

 

“1.This is another utterly misconceived application”

 

Because it lets me know that this one has potential. It is Re SW (no 2) 2018

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2017/30.html

 

And Re SW was one of my favourite weird cases (an application in the Court of Protection to have a best interests decision that a woman, SW, should undertake surgery in order to give a bone marrow transplant to her adopted brother. The applicant was the son of SW, asking that the surgery be carried out by husband of SW, also coincidentally a surgeon, also coincidentally who had been stuck off as a surgeon, also coincidentally he also had a friend who would assist him, also coincidentally his friend had also been struck off. Link below.  Oh, they also failed to show that the brother needed the surgery, or that SW actually lacked capacity to agree to it or refuse it.  It is fantastic in every regard)

 

 

I dismissed a previous application on 12 April 2017: Re SW [2017] EWCOP 7. Of that application, I said this (para 33):

 

 

 

“As it has been presented to the court, this scarcely coherent application is totally without merit, it is misconceived and it is vexatious. It would be contrary to every principle of how litigation ought to be conducted in the Court of Protection, and every principle of proper case management, to allow this hopelessly defective application to proceed on the forlorn assumption that the son could somehow get his tackle in order and present a revised application which could somehow avoid the fate of its predecessor.”

 

https://suesspiciousminds.com/2017/04/12/bone-marrow-transplants-and-struck-off-doctors/

 

 

 

This time around, SW’s son was applying to the Court of Protection for a best interests decision that the Inland Revenue be prohibited from coming into SW’s home or taking any action against her.

 

 

 

3.The present application was issued by the son on 15 September 2017, supported by his witness statement dated 6 September 2017. P was named as the applicant’s mother, who I shall continue to refer to as SW. The respondent was named as the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs (HMRC), who were described in the application as being “Competent Authority”. The relief sought was, and I quote:

 

 

 

“A Declaration from the Court, under its inherent jurisdiction, that it shall be unlawful for the Respondent to effect forced entry of the property of P or to restrict P’s liberty of movement without permission from the Court of Protection.”

4.The son’s witness statement and the various exhibits attached to it make clear that the complaint arises out of the execution on 29 September 2016 by officers of HMRC of search warrants under section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 authorising the search of two properties owned by SW and in one of which SW was living at the time. The searches were in connection with suspected VAT frauds relating to companies of which the son and his father, Dr Waghorn, were directors. The son was subsequently arrested on 27 October 2016, according to a witness statement of the arresting officer “on suspicion of submitting false documentation to HMRC in order to reclaim VAT repayments contrary to s 72(1) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and the subsequent money laundering offences under sections 327 and 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.”

 

 

One might cynically think that this application benefits the son and his father more than SW, since they are the people under investigation for VAT fraud, and that they are just using the mother/wife SW as a shield or device to escape prosecution for VAT fraud. You dreadful cynic.

 

 

5.The son’s witness statement is explicit that he was not present at the events on 29 September 2016. Having set out extracts from various statements which, he says, were “given as evidence in prosecution at the Crown Court”, and exhibited documents relating to a complaint he made to HMRC and to a complaint made by Dr Waghorn to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in relation to the actions of HMRC, the son concluded his witness statement as follows:

 

 

 

“I am unaware that the Authority has obtained any authorisation, either urgent or standard, from the Court of Protection to control and manage the property of P nor to restrict P’s liberty of movement.”

6.On 22 September 2017 District Judge S Jackson struck out the application. The District Judge’s order read as follows:

 

 

 

“Upon considering an application for an order under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court of Protection and upon the court not having an inherent jurisdiction and upon the court considering that the application and statement in support is incomprehensible and therefore without merit.

 

IT IS ORDERED that:

 

  1. Application struck out

 

  1. This order was made without a hearing. Any person affected by it may apply (on form COP9), within 21 days of the date on which the order was served, to have the order set aside, pursuant to rule 89 of the Court of Protection Rules 2007.”

7.By an application dated 1 October 2017 and received by the court on 3 October 2017, the son sought an order that the District Judge’s order be set aside and that the court grant a declaration in the terms previously sought. His grounds were as follows:

 

 

 

“1) Parliament has granted jurisdiction to the Court of Protection in Deprivation of Liberty cases by introducing into the Mental Capacity Act 2005 safeguards through the Mental Health Act 2007 (which received Royal assent in July 2007), in order that those who lack capacity have the protection of law which will comply with Article 5(1) and 5(4) of the European Convention of Human Rights (“ECHR”).

 

2) P’s determination of her protected rights is envisaged in Article 6(1) of the ECHR and guaranteed in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 47 – Right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial).”

 

He submitted no further evidence.

 

 

The President was able to deal with the appeal fairly simply

 

 

 

10.I can deal with the matter briefly. I agree entirely with both the decision and the reasoning of the District Judge. I add three points.

 

 

11.First, a ‘best interests court’, in which I include the Court of Protection, the Family Court and the Family Division of the High Court of Justice, has no power to regulate or adjudicate upon the decision of a public authority exercising its statutory and other powers: see, generally, A v Liverpool City Council and Another [1982] AC 363, (1981) 2 FLR 222, and, specifically in relation to the Court of Protection, Re MN (Adult) [2015] EWCA Civ 411, [2015] COPLR 505, appeal dismissed N v ACCG and Others [2017] UKSC 22, [2017] COPLR 200. But that is precisely what the son is seeking to persuade the Court of Protection to do here. He is seeking an order, albeit in declaratory form, to prevent HMRC exercising its powers “without permission from the Court of Protection.” The appropriate remedy, if one is needed, is by application to the criminal court, in a case such as this, or to the Administrative Court. I make clear that I am not to be understood as suggesting that, in the circumstances, any application the son might make to either court stands the slightest prospect of success; my view, for what it is worth, is that it would not.

 

 

12.Second, there is, in any event, no evidence before the court to demonstrate SW’s incapacity, which alone can give the Court of Protection jurisdiction.

 

 

13.Third, on the basis of the evidence which the son has put before the court, there is simply nothing to support any contention that HMCR has acted unlawfully or that it either has in the past done, or that it threatens in future to do, any of the things apparently alleged by the son: that is, to effect forced entry to SW’s property, to control and manage her property, or to restrict her liberty of movement. The son has placed before the court a number of witness statements prepared for the purpose of the criminal proceedings by officers of HMRC. He has not sought to challenge any of the facts asserted by those officers – indeed, he seeks to rely upon parts of their witness statements. And since, as I have said, he was not present, he is in any event hardly in a position to gainsay what they assert. The simple fact is that there is nothing in any of this material which even begins to suggest that what the son is asserting is even arguably right. On the contrary, what the material demonstrates is the seeming propriety with which HMRC obtained and executed the search warrants, the very proper concern which the HMRC officers involved had for the potential impact on SW of what was going on around her while the relevant search warrant was being executed, and the very proper steps which they appropriately took to protect and safeguard her welfare.

 

 

14.The son’s application as it was presented to the District Judge was, in my judgment, totally without merit, misconceived and vexatious. His application under Rule 89 is equally devoid of merit. It must be dismissed, with the consequence that the District Judge’s order striking out the original application remains in place.

 

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Put paid to what you say, and put your money where your mouth is

Posted on January 16, 2018 by suesspiciousminds

That’s a line from one of my favourite Wonder Stuff songs, “Unbearable”, where the chorus goes “I didn’t like you very much when I met you / I didn’t like you very much when I met you / I didn’t like you very much when I met you / and now I like you even less”

And now, in a crunching change of gears, here’s a case in which every Local Authority Court of Protection lawyer has either said, or is about to say, “You know what, I’ve always loved Charles J”

Y’all don’t need to read this one unless you do Court of Protection work OR if you just enjoy watching a High Court Judge smack a Secretary of State upside the head, in a very respectful way of course.

Basically, as a result of the Supreme Court decision in Cheshire West (which I think was legally correct), there was an explosion in the number of Court cases coming before the Court of Protection to get legal authorisation for deprivation of liberty for P, which before Cheshire West were just being dealt with on the basis of ‘this isn’t really a detention, because that’s just what we do with people like P’.

That explosion in the number of cases was never accompanied by an explosion of additional resources, and the first major pressure point was the Official Solicitor, who had been able to give a voice for P in cases when there were about a hundred a year, but not in the thousands that were now coming at them. So a scheme was devised where the non-contentious authorisations could be done without P being represented – but then the Court of Appeal didn’t like that.

40.I repeat that I acknowledge that the decision in Cheshire West has caused huge resource implications. The Law Commission has estimated the cost of full compliance at £2.155 billion per year. This goes well beyond the resource implications of cases of the type before me. But, as appears below, they have significant resource implications.

If you haven’t read a newspaper since 2008, we don’t actually have a spare £2 billion a year sloshing around just waiting for someone to come and make good use of it. Whatever magic money trees can be shaken, their branches are now bare.

So in Re JM, Charles J posed the question directly to the MOJ and DoH – what’s your solution for having P represented? And where is the funding coming from? And he stayed some test cases to get an answer to that.

In Re KT, Charles J examines the answers given by the MOJ and DoH and finds them wanting.

Re KT (and Others) 2018

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2018/1.html

2.In JM, I concluded that applications made for welfare orders to authorise a deprivation of their liberty on the basis that they are not contentious should be stayed when no family member or friend is available for appointment as P’s Rule 3A representative. I also concluded that the Crown should be joined as a Respondent. This was because I concluded that central government, and in particular the Ministry of Justice (the MoJ), is primarily responsible for providing the resources needed to enable the Court of Protection (the COP) to adopt an Article 5 compliant and fair procedure. Also, that joinder enabled the MoJ (and the Department of Health – the DoH) to “put their money where their mouth was” by identifying professionals ready willing and able to act as Rule 3A representatives in the stayed cases and thereby establish the solution they had maintained local authority (and other) applicants could provide, but I had concluded was not practically available.

3.The number of stayed cases has grown steadily. There are now over 300 such cases in which the MoJ and DoH (alone or together with the relevant applicant local authority or other public body) have not been able to identify a professional who the COP could appoint to act as P’s Rule 3A representative.

4.The JM judgment is dated 10 March 2016. Over a year later, in letters sent in late March and early April 2017 to applicants in stayed cases the Government Legal Department (the GLD) indicated that Ministers had agreed to provide funding to HMCTS to enable greater use of visitors by the COP.

5.Such letters prompted the applications in these four test cases to lift the stays imposed on the basis that a visitor was to report.

These bits are helpful to the LA, and arrive from documents filed by the Secretary of State early on in the proceedings

87 The answer in the note provided by Counsel for the Secretary of State at the beginning of that hearing was as follows (with my emphasis):

22. [The deponent] referred to the local authorities existing statutory duties in paragraph 4 of his second witness statement. This was a reference to local authorities’ statutory duties in respect of DoLs generally under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not suggested that there is any specific statutory obligation that requires a local authority to arrange or fund the appointment of rule 3A representatives.

23. The Department’s position is that rule 3A representation is one of the potential methods for the Court to consider, so as to ensure that the process meets the Article 5 minimum requirements in a particular case, but the Department does not seek to impose any new obligation on local authorities or any other bodies.

24. The Department does not say that the obligation to provide the resources to meet the minimal procedural requirements necessarily falls on local authorities. But that local authorities are public authorities who have responsibility for compliance with Article 5, in the same way as other public authorities have such responsibility. Which public authority is required to take steps to comply with Article 5 will depend on the facts of each case. For example, a local authority would not be obliged to provide resources if the Article 5 minimum procedural requirements were met by the appointment of a family member or friend as a rule 3A representative.

25. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not asserted that the local authorities responsible for funding the appointment of any litigation friend.

If you are thinking to yourself, that sounds good, then hello and welcome to the blog, dear first-time reader.

If you are instead thinking to yourself, I bet having given those assurances very clearly and cogently I bet the Secretary of State later filed documents completely and utterly resiling from that reasonable and proper concession and probably did so at the last possible minute and tried to sneak it in under the radar, then hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again. OF COURSE, that’s what the Secretary of State did, because that’s exactly what they always do.

If you are in Court with any Secretary of State and they offer in a document a perfectly sensible and appropriate concession that would spare everyone huge time and effort litigating a position that they would lose ultimately if they decided to fight it, don’t believe it unless the Minister is actually prepared to have the words tattooed on their face for all to see. And probably not even then.

[I’m reminded of Hoftstadter’s Politicians Syllogism – (a) Politicians lie (b) Cast Iron sinks therefore (c) Politicians lie in cast iron sinks]

14.The volte face is that for the first time, the Secretary of State asserts that local authority applicants owe a duty under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 “to facilitate the speedy resolution of the application by (for example) ensuring that a professional advocate is appointed to represent P’s interests so far as necessary”. In the very last sentence it is then asserted that this duty: “falls into the same category as the DOLS duties which were considered in Liverpool City Council”. This is a radical departure from the position taken by the Secretary of State in JM in connection with the New Burdens Doctrine (see paragraph 93 of JM cited above).

Charles J didn’t like that much, and ruled that EVEN if the Secretary of State was right (and he may not be), then the buck ultimately stops with the Secretary of State to provide FUNDING for LA’s in order that they can do that. Yay!

17.I agree with the submission made by counsel for the applicant authorities in his further submissions dated 27 October 2017 (the last of the exchanged evidence and submissions) that the introduction of an argument that the local authority applicants owe a HRA s. 6 duty, to circumvent:

i) the previously agreed position that they owed no such statutory duty, and

ii) the flaws in the earlier evidence and argument of the Secretary of State in these cases,

is potentially significant and would warrant oral argument if it is to be relied on as the basis for any part of my decision.
18.My preliminary view is that this new argument of the Secretary of State is wrong and runs counter to the decision on the obligations of a local authority in Re A and C [2010] EWHC 978 (in particular at paragraph 96) and its application in Staffordshire County Council v SRK and others [2016] EWCOP 27 and [2016] EWCA Civ 1317.

19.However, I have concluded that it is not necessary for me to hear oral argument on whether local authority (and other) applicants owe any such duty because on the assumption (contrary to my provisional view) that they do then:

i) the Secretary of State for Justice remains the Minister responsible for the administration and resourcing of the COP and so the Minister with the statutory duty to take the necessary steps to ensure that the COP, as a public authority, acts lawfully and so can apply a Convention compliant and fair procedure,

ii) this statutory duty is not based on the HRA, rather is central to one of his functions, and so much more akin to the duties imposed on local authorities under the DoLS,

iii) as accepted in JM, he or the MoJ would inevitably be a defendant to any action for breach of Convention rights founded on a failure by the
COP to adopt an Article 5 compliant procedure even if applicants also owe an Article 6 duty as now asserted by the Secretary of State,

iv) this acceptance confirms the point that it is the Secretary of State who owes the relevant primary duty and so the COP can and should rely on him to take the necessary steps to ensure that the necessary resources to enable the COP to act lawfully, by applying a Convention compliant and fair procedure in the stayed cases, are provided by one or more public authorities in central or local government, and

v) if applicant authorities have an HRA duty it would be owed to individuals and not to the COP whereas in contrast, and as accepted in JM, the Secretary of State has a statutory duty to take steps to enable the COP to act lawfully as a public authority

That’s exactly the way to despatch the cheap shot from the Secretary of State – which was the equivalent in a game of tennis of the opponent saying “oh, hold on, can I just tie my shoelaces?” and responding “Sure, that’s fine” and THEN SERVING THE BALL anyway and trying to claim the point. (My friend Scott once broke his ankle during a tennis match and his opponent wandered over to peer down at him writhing in agony on the turf and just said quietly “I’m afraid that’s game, if you can’t continue”)

Conclusions on the evidence
45.The evidence in these cases shows that the budgetary battles referred to in JM continue. Naturally, I recognise that we live in times of austerity but, like the evidence in JM and NRA, this round of evidence makes depressing and annoying reading for anyone with any compassion and knowledge of the position of Ps, and their families and carers, who are in similar circumstances to those that exist in these test cases.

46.Sadly, the evidence and submissions put in and relied on by the Secretary of State are a continuation of the avoidant approach referred to in JM and they fail to properly address many of the issues raised in my directions.

47.The Secretary of State filed and relies on evidence from a civil servant employed at the MoJ as a policy manager with responsibility for the Mental Capacity Act. Much of her evidence is unconvincing. I do not seek to blame her for this because I recognise that all she is doing is reflecting the stance of the Secretary of State which I have concluded is driven by budgetary issues.

48.As in JM, the evidence filed by and the submissions of the applicant authorities is more helpful and constructive.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. Yes, you read that correctly. A Judge just praised a Local Authority for helpful and constructive evidence. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead.

(You don’t often get Auden, Simon and Garfunkel and Miles Hunt in the same piece of legal writing. You’re welcome.)

The Secretary of State did not provide any information as to the volumes of people affected or the costs of any such scheme.

A startling omission from the evidence served by the Secretary of State is any estimate of the likely number of applications and reviews that will be or should be made of welfare orders to authorise a DoL of Ps who do not have a family member or friend who can act as their Rule 3A representative.

61.Such an estimate is obviously central to any sensible consideration of:

i) the number of professional Rule 3A representatives that would be needed to enable those or a significant number of those cases to proceed on the basis that they were appointed, and so whether or not this is a practical option,

ii) the number of those cases in which a visitor would need to be appointed for the same purpose, and

iii) how the COP will manage the stayed cases and others that are brought and need review, which involves a consideration of the judicial and administrative resources of the COP.
62.As appears below, any such estimate shows that the possibility that the existing backlog of stayed cases falls well short of the number of cases in which welfare orders should and would be sought if they could proceed cannot sensibly be ignored. And so, neither can a consideration of:

i) how significantly increased numbers of applications and reviews would be dealt with and funded, and so

ii) whether the potentially high total of fee income that these and other DoL applications would generate (and would be paid by applicant authorities) could or should be used to provide or assist in providing resources (judicial, administrative and through visitors) to enable the COP to adopt a Convention compliant and fair procedure.
63.The omission of any such estimate or consideration points to the conclusion, which I reach on the totality of the evidence, that the Secretary of State’s position is based on the following:

i) A failure to identify an evidential base for the existence of what the Secretary of State continues to assert to be the preferred and so available option to address the growing backlog of stayed cases (namely the appointment of a professional Rule 3A representative in a significant number of them).

ii) An approach focused on the existing backlog that excludes the need for reviews and the likelihood or possibility that the existence of a procedure that allows cases to proceed to an order will increase the number of applications made and reviews that are needed.

iii) A wish to end the practice of joining the Crown to cases of this type based on an assertion that the provision of unparticularised resources to provide visitors will be reviewed.
64. It is understandable that a commitment to an open-ended provision of resources to provide visitors cannot be given but:

i) the continued advancement of a solution that is not a practically available option, and in any event

ii) the advancement of a solution that contains no adequate assessment of the resources that are likely to be needed to enable the COP to deal with cases of this type other than in the short term,

coupled with the history of the approach taken by the Secretary of State, lead inexorably to the conclusion that it would be very unwise to proceed on the basis that as and when the present backlog, or part of it is cleared, and problems about the representation of P in new applications for or in reviews of welfare orders arise, that the Secretary of State will, through the promised review of the resources, address them promptly or constructively.
65.Rather, I am sorry that I have to conclude that the evidence in these cases shows that it can be expected that history will repeat itself and the Secretary of State will persist in taking an avoidant and unconvincing “pass the parcel” approach to the problems which he has a statutory duty to resolve alone or through a constructive approach with the local and other public authority applicants.

Foolish, because the LA’s did…

66.In contrast, the local authorities do address the likely need for resources to provide visitors. They submit and I accept that:

i) The four individuals involved in these proceedings are among the estimated 53,000 people deprived of liberty outside hospitals and care homes which, the Law Commission calculates, would cost local authorities and the NHS £609.5 million per year to authorise by obtaining welfare orders from the COP.

ii) It is not known how many of the 53,000 people would fall within the non-contentious class of cases identified in JM. But it is known that the number of deprivation of liberty applications to the COP has risen from 109 in 2013 to 3,143 in 2016, and

iii) Between January and March 2017, there were 969 applications relating to deprivation of liberty, up 43% on the equivalent quarter in 2016 (678). Of these, 600 were Re X applications. And according to the Court’s order of 26 May 2017, approximately 230 cases were stayed pursuant to Re JM. (There are now about 330).

Charles J looked at the sticking plaster solution that the DoH/ MoJ were proposing

71.However, in my view, the possibility that the existing backlog falls significantly short of the number of applications and reviews that should and would be made if they could proceed cannot sensibly be ignored and so the approach of the Secretary of State which:

i) is expressed to provide resources to fund an additional 200 reports a year (and so 200 cases a year) taken with the ability of the existing visitors to clear a backlog of 230 cases (the figure mentioned in the evidence served by the Secretary of State, which has now increased), and

ii) does not include any contingency planning for (or even any recognition of) significantly more applications and reviews

falls well short of an approach that properly addresses the problems.
72.Accordingly, the present resources that the Secretary of State has indicated will be provided is based on an inadequate assessment and it is highly likely that those resources:

i) will at best only provide a short-term fix,

ii) will not to provide an ongoing resource that will enable the COP, to apply a fair and Convention compliant procedure in the applications and reviews that should and would be made and reviewed each year in cases such as those that have been stayed pursuant to JM, and so

iii) absent further resources being provided, another backlog of these cases will build up or if that is avoided they will create significant delays in other types of applications to the COP
73.I repeat the warning that further judicial and administrative resources would be needed to enable the COP to deal with a significant increase in the number of such applications and reviews each year.

Charles J had to consider whether a professional independent Rule 3A representative would be better than a visitor doing their best. It isn’t a surprising analysis

81.In my view, the appointment of a professional who could act independently as a Rule 3A representative and carry out regular reviews of P’s placement and care package on the ground would in most cases be likely to have advantages over the appointment of a visitor because it would provide a better basis of and for review and equivalent expertise and independence to that provided by a visitor.

82.As I have said the Secretary of State does not address the issues referred to in paragraphs 57 and 77 above and paragraph 150 of JM and so has not provided any evidence to support an argument that such a resource is likely to be available as a preferred option in a significant number of cases.

83.Also, I have concluded that even if applicant local authorities owe an HRA duty:

i) the COP should look to the Secretary of State to provide the relevant resources to enable it to act lawfully, and

ii) the appointment of professional Rule 3A representatives is still an option that is not practically available in significant numbers of cases.
84.The points made in the last four paragraphs mean that if I had to choose an order of preference as between the appointment of a professional Rule 3A representative and a visitor I would select that advanced by the local authorities.

85.However, this does not mean that the COP in exercising its best interests jurisdiction should not be informed about the availability of a professional Rule 3A representative in each case so that it can assess whether that person (who by definition agrees to act) would be a better option, for example, because of his continuing connection with P and the reliance the COP can place on his independence and expertise. Indeed, the need for this information arises from my preliminary observation that a presumptive approach is inappropriate.

86.The Secretary of State sensibly accepts in his evidence that generally the COP can and should accept an assertion from an applicant authority that a professional Rule 3A representative is not available for appointment at face value. I say sensibly because as recognised in the evidence of the Secretary of State (in different terms) it would be folly for the COP to require evidence about and to investigate such availability and so turn what is presented as an uncontroversial application into one that has a dispute which the COP probably could not resolve without hearing oral evidence and does not have the investigatory resources to conduct without having evidence called and cross examined.

87.This approach of the Secretary of State, like the letter dated 18 April 2017 referred to in my directions, supports the conclusion that in practice such professionals are not available for appointment in a significant number of cases and so the view that the disagreement about the order of preference is based on a wish to keep the budgetary issues, and so what central and local government should provide, alive.

88.The result of the COP proceeding on the basis that it will generally accept an assertion by an applicant authority that a professional Rule 3A representative is not available at face value is that in most cases the COP will appoint a visitor for so long as that remains a practically available option.

So, IF you can have a professional Rule 3A representative, you should have one, if the LA says there isn’t one the Court should accept their word for it rather than carrying out a long, painstaking and expensive enquiry into that, and if there isn’t one, we’ll have to make do with the COP appointing a visitor to do it.

The way ahead
94.I suggest that the Secretary of State, the Public Guardian and the COP (through the Senior Judge) try to agree a process by which the stays are lifted in the approximately 330 stayed cases on the same basis as in these cases. It seems to me that in cases in which local authorities in reaction to invitations made in the standard letter, or as a result of updates (see the quotes in paragraphs 7 and 9 above), or otherwise have not sought to lift the stay an appropriate course would be for the Secretary of State to apply to lift the stay in a manner that ensures that a visitor will be available for appointment in each case. But I acknowledge that a different approach may be more convenient and enable the COP to clear the backlog more efficiently having regard to its available judicial and administrative resources and the availability of visitors.

As Charles J indicated earlier, even this is just a sticking-plaster solution – just to be in place until something is properly worked out


37.As appears below, I have concluded that the present offer of resource is not likely to provide anything but a short-term solution. However, in my view this prospect and so a return to the present and very unfortunate situation that the COP has to stay applications that should be determined because it cannot determine them lawfully does not mean that it should not utilise this resource and the lawful procedure it provides for as long as it is available in practice.

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Fasting for Ramadan and Court of Protection

Posted on June 17, 2017 by suesspiciousminds

 

An interesting Court of Protection case which might prove useful for other professionals.

 

IH (Observance of Muslim Practice) 2017

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2017/9.html

 

Cobb J was presented with an application by the Official Solicitor on behalf of IH, a man of Muslim background who lacked capacity, for a declaration that IH should not have to fast during the period of Ramadan as would be culturally usual for Muslims who had capacity.

At the same time, IH’s family sought a direction that IH’s body hair should be trimmed.

 

 

  • There is no dispute that IH lacks capacity to make the decisions which are the focus of these applications; the diagnostic and functional criteria contained in, respectively, sections 2 and section 3 MCA 2005 are clearly established on the evidence. Specifically, to have capacity to make the decision to fast for Ramadan, a person would be expected to understand (section 3(1)(a)):

 

i) What fasting is; the lack of food and liquid, eating and drinking;

ii) The length of the fast;

iii) If for religion, for custom (family or otherwise), for health-associated reasons, or for other reasons;

iv) If for religion reasons, which religion and why;

v) The effect of fasting on the body;

vi) What the consequences would be of making a choice to fast and the risks of choosing to not fast or of postponing the decision.

 

  • Dr. Carpenter is clear that IH is not able to understand any of the six points listed in [20] above. It is further agreed between the parties, having received Dr. Carpenter’s advice, that, given the nature of his disability, IH will not ever acquire capacity to make such decisions (section 4(3)).
  • To have the capacity to make a decision in relation to the trimming or removal of pubic or axillary hair for religious or cultural reasons, a person would be expected to be able to understand:

 

i) Which parts of the hair are being removed – pubic, axillary, perianal, trunk, beard, leg, torso, or head;

ii) Whether the reason for the hair trimming/removal is religious, for the maintenance of good hygiene, custom, or some other;

iii) If for a religious reason, which religion and why;

iv) What the consequences would be of making a choice to have hair trimmed/removed, and of not trimming/removing the hair.

 

  • Dr. Carpenter is clear that IH is not able to understand any of the four points listed in [22] above. He opined that while IH may give the superficial appearance of engaging in prayer, by responding to the familiar practice of the adults in the family turning to prayer (he holds his hands up, or places them behind his ears), he has no understanding of the purpose or higher meaning of the act of prayer. It is further agreed between the parties, having received Dr. Carpenter’s advice, that, given the nature of his disability, IH will not ever acquire capacity to make such decisions (section 4(3)).

 

 

Cobb J outlined the religious principles involved in these issues, and in particular that the Islamic faith already has provision for those who lack the ability to make their own decisions and who are therefore exempt from obligations that might be placed upon others.

Islamic religious observance for those without capacity.

 

  • The Five Pillars of Islam (‘shahada‘ [faith], ‘salat‘ [prayer], ‘zakat‘ [charity], ‘sawm‘ [fasting] and ‘hajj‘ [pilgrimage]) are the foundation and framework of Muslim life, and are regarded as obligatory for Muslims. Not all actions or observances within Islam, however, are obligatory; some are recommended, others optional, some actions are reprehensible, and others prohibited. In Islam, a Muslim will commit a sin if he/she violates something which is obligatory or prohibited, will be rewarded for carrying out something which is recommended; a minor sin is committed for not doing something which is recommended, and for doing something which is reprehensible.
  • Significantly for present purposes, Islam stipulates different arrangements for those who lack ‘legal competence’. ‘Legal competence’ in Islamic terms is defined by Dr. Ali as “a capacity or a potential for mental functioning, required in a decision-specific manner, to understand and carry out decision-making. Competence is always presumed; its absence or inactivity has to be affirmed by a court.” It is normal (per Dr. Ali) to defer to medical practitioners or experts on the issue of legal (mental) competence; their opinion would be likely to be deemed valid and authoritative in the Shari’a. The evidence filed in these proceedings, most notably from Dr. Carpenter, would be sufficient, I was advised, to form the basis in Islamic law to declare IH to be “legally incompetent”; all parties agree that IH is not legally competent under Islamic law.
  • Dr. Ali advises that the legally incompetent person (along with the terminally ill, the disabled and minors) is perpetually in a heightened state of spirituality, hence he or she is exempt from practising the major rituals of Islam including adherence to the Five Pillars.
  • On the specific issues engaged in this application, Dr. Ali advises as follows:

 

Fasting in Ramadan

i) Fasting during the daylight hours of Ramadan is one of the Qur’anically mandated obligations for all Muslims who are legally competent, and who are not exempt. Certain groups are exempt from fasting; they include the incapacitous, minors, the ill, pregnant women, those who are travelling. Those who are exempt are not morally culpable for not keeping the daylight fast.

Trimming or shaving of pubic and axillary hair

ii) Cleaning pubic or axillary hair is a religiously sanctioned practice deemed in Islam to be a normal human ‘right’ (‘fitrah‘);

iii) The rationale is founded in a quest for ritual purity and cleanliness; (the aphorism ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ is of course familiar to many religions);

iv) The removal of pubic and axillary hair for the legally competent Muslim is ‘mustahab‘ or ‘recommended practice’; while it is not obligatory (‘wajib‘) it would be viewed as a ‘minor sin’ if unattended (see [26] above);

v) As IH does not have ‘legal competence’ it is not even recommended practice for him (see [28] above); there is no obligation on his carers to carry out the removal of IH’s pubic or axillary hair, and his religious rights are not being violated by not attending to this;

vi) It is highly recommended and praiseworthy for carers (of whatever religion) to shave or shorten a patient’s pubic or axillary hair, in the same way as it is for them to assist the incapacitous in other routine care tasks;

vii) There are differences of opinion between Islamic commentators as to the preferred manner of hair removal; any method would be deemed acceptable;

viii) The time limit within which the hair needs to be cleaned or trimmed or removed is also a matter of assorted opinion, though the majority of commentators favour a 40-day limit;

ix) While it would be not permissible for a competent Muslim to expose their genitals, it would not be contrary to the Shari’a for a Muslim without capacity who requires assistance with his care, for his carers to clean his genitals or shave them; that said, “carers must be sensitive that the client’s dignity is not violated”;

x) ‘No hurt no harm’ is a cardinal principle of Islamic bioethics; avoidance of harm has priority over the pursuit of a benefit of equal or lesser worth. Therefore it would be wrong to create a situation in which observance of Islamic custom would, or would be likely to, cause harm to the person (i.e. IH) or his carers; if there is a risk of harm, then this principle would absolve even the capacitated person from performing an obligatory requirement.

Is it in IH’s best interests to be relieved of his obligation to fast during Ramadan?

 

  • As indicated above ([29](i)) there is no Islamic obligation on IH to fast given his lack of capacity. IH has never been required to fast by his family, and has not fasted while in their care. He has not, thus far, fasted while in the care of the Local Authority.
  • If this had been a case in which IH had some appreciation of the religious significance of fasting in Ramadan (as a means to attaining taqwa, i.e. the essence of piety, protecting one’s self from evil) there may be said to be some benefit in him doing so. But he has no such appreciation.
  • IH, I am satisfied, would not in fact understand why food and water was being withheld for the daylight hours in the month of Ramadan; the absence of food/water would be likely to cause him stress, or distress; this may cause him to become irritable and/or aggressive in the ways described above ([13]) increasing the risks to staff and himself. There is some minor anxiety that fasting and/or mild dehydration would increase the side effects of any one of his multiple medications. It is plainly not in his interests that he should fast, and the declaration will be granted.

 

Is it in IH’s best interests for his pubic and axillary hair to be trimmed?

 

  • Health or social care bodies who make the arrangements for the care for adults who lack capacity owe an obligation, so far as is reasonably practicable and in the interests of the individual, to create a care environment and routine which is supportive of the religion of P, and to facilitate P’s access to, or observance of religious custom and ritual. All forms of liturgy should, where practicable, be accessible to persons with disabilities. This view is consistent with Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the right enjoyed by those who lack capacity as for those who have capacity, to freedom of religion and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. While no specific protection in this regard appears to be offered by the UNHR Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, the rights enshrined in the ECHR (above) “are for everyone, including the most disabled members of our community” (Baroness Hale in P (by his Litigation Friend, OS) v Cheshire West & Others [2014] UKSC 19).
  • The duty outlined above is consistent with the expectation that in best interests decision-making for someone who lacks capacity, the court will take account, so far as is reasonably ascertainable “the beliefs and values” of that person which would be likely to influence his decision if he had capacity (section 4(6)(b)); these must include, where relevant, religious beliefs and values. This is illustrated in the instant case by the fact that the Local Authority provides IH with a Halal diet even though IH himself would not know that the food he ate was Halal, or the significance of the source and/or preparation of the food. The Local Authority recognise the need to respect IH’s religion.
  • Of the “relevant circumstances” which require consideration in deciding on this issue, TH has placed the religious significance of the proposed procedure at the centre of the decision-making, and I turn to this first.
  • The frame of reference for consideration of the issue has altered since the start of the litigation. At a best interests meeting on 9 September 2016, TH advanced the proposition that there was a religious “duty” to remove or shave IH’s pubic and axillary hair. In the same manner, his early written evidence (see [14]) referred to the “very essential” and “compulsory” nature of the activity, a view pronounced apparently on the authority of an Imam. This indeed is how Roderic Wood J characterised the issue, in passing, in the case of A Local Authority v ED & others [2013] EWCOP 3069, in which he referred (at [12]) to a “duty” to remove the pubic hair of a Muslim woman (albeit recognising the exemption for the incapacitous). Dr. Ali’s evidence, on which he was not challenged, was to different effect.
  • In short, as is clear from [29](v) above, there is simply no religious duty, or obligation on a person who lacks capacity (‘legal competence’ in Islam) to trim or shave his or her pubic and axillary hair, or on his carer to do so for them. IH does not need to acquire this state of ritual cleanliness in order to derive spiritual benefit as he already occupies an elevated status by virtue of his incapacity. Moreover, I am satisfied that IH himself derives no religious ‘benefit’ by having the procedure undertaken, as he would not understand its religious significance. It is of no consequence to me, in the consideration of these facts, that the carers may be blessed in the eyes of Islam in undertaking a ‘praiseworthy’ activity by trimming the hair; their interests are not my concern.
  • I agree with TH, and with Mr. Jarrod, when they separately expressed the view that if IH had capacity he probably would have observed this custom.

 

And in conclusion

Conclusion

 

  • I have faithfully endeavoured to consider these issues from IH’s point of view, while ultimately applying a best interests evaluation. IH has a life-long developmental condition and has never had the capacity to understand the tenets of Islam; the benefits of adherence to such rituals do not obtain for him, but for others. The fact is that by reason of his disability IH is absolved of the expectation of performing this recommended procedure, and there is no other clear benefit to him. The trimming of the pubic and axillary hair would serve no other purpose. I am anxious that IH should be spared additional stresses in his life, and wish to protect him and the staff from the risk of harm – an approach which itself has the endorsement of Islamic teaching (see [29](x) above).
  • For those reasons, and having reviewed the circumstances extensively above, I have reached the conclusion that:

 

i) The parties are right in agreeing, and I confirm, that IH should be relieved of the obligation to fast during Ramadan;

ii) It is not in IH’s best interests that his pubic and/or axillary hair be trimmed in accordance with Islamic custom for capacitous followers of Islam.

 

 

 

 

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Bone marrow transplants and struck off doctors

Posted on April 12, 2017 by suesspiciousminds

 

 

 

 

This is a very peculiar Court of Protection case, decided by the President.  Very peculiar is a massive understatement, to be frank.

SW, Re [2017] EWCOP 7 (12 April 2017)

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2017/7.html

 

As the acronyms are a bit confusing, I’ll give us a cast list

 

 

SAN – a man who has cancer. It is said that he needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life, as a result of this.

 

SW – SAN’s adopted sister, and a woman about whom it is alleged lacks capacity to make decisions in her own right.

 

Son – the son of SW, who does have capacity, and who applied to Court for a declaration to be made that SW undergo surgery in order to donate bone marrow to SAN and that the surgery be undertaken by the next two members of our cast.

Dr Waghorn – a surgeon, who coincidentally is the husband of SW and the father of Son. He has ‘relinquished his membership with the General Medical Council in order to continue his specialized medical practice’

Dr Jooste – another surgeon – a family friend and colleague of Dr Waghorn. He too has ‘relinquished his membership with the General Medical Council in order to continue his specialized medical practice’

 

The intention is that Dr Waghorn and/or Dr Jooste would carry out the transplant surgery.  By the way, don’t assume that SAN is keen on having this surgery. Or even that Son, Dr Waghorn or Dr Jooste have recently asked him if he wants it or consents to it.

 

 

Are you a dreadful cynical hard-bitten creature? Are your internal alarm bells going off loudly and causing dogs in your vicinity to bark furiously at the hellish clamour that was produced by the ‘relinquished his membership with the GMC’ bit?

 

 

This is the size of dog that is proportionate to how loudly my ‘WARNING’ alarm bell is ringing

 

(If Amazon suddenly get a spike in DVD orders for that film, I should get a cut. If you haven’t seen it,     ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out)

The Judge explored that a little further

 

6.In fact, both Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste have had their names erased from the Medical Register following determinations by different Fitness to Practise Panels of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, the one, in the case of Dr Waghorn, on 26 July 2013 and the other, in the case of Dr Jooste, on 17 February 2014. In each case the Panel’s findings make for very disturbing reading.

 

 

7.In relation to Dr Waghorn the Panel said this

 

“The Panel accepts that the matters before it relating to patient care arise from the treatment of one patient. However, they represent such a wide-ranging and serious set of clinical failings and such a cavalier and uncaring approach to patient safety that, even viewed in isolation, they demonstrate misconduct that is fundamentally incompatible with the practice of medicine. That misconduct is compounded by the fact that it occurred with foreknowledge of the wholly inadequate conditions under which Patient A was to be treated and it involved the criminal offence of carrying on a hospital without registration with the CQC. The misconduct is also exacerbated by Dr Waghorn’s breaches of the conditions that had been put in place to prevent any repetition and by his dishonesty in trying to disguise the extent of his subsequent work at the same clinic.”

 

In fact, as appears from the Panel’s determination, Dr Waghorn had been convicted at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 9 June 2011 of an offence contrary to section 11(1) of the Care Standards Act 2000 of carrying on an Independent Hospital without being registered in respect of it under Part II of the Act.

8.In relation to Dr Jooste the Panel said this:

 

 

 

“Dr Jooste is a risk to patient safety …

 

The Panel also considers that there is a risk to patient safety in Dr Jooste’s unwillingness to accept or comply with the authority of his regulator, in that he seems not to acknowledge any restriction or control on his practice and will not be called to account. Dr Jooste has behaved in an outrageous manner in his conduct towards the Interim Orders Panel and witnesses and in the entirely unmeritorious applications he has made to the High Court.

 

The Panel has received no evidence of any mitigating factors …

 

The panel has concluded that suspension would be wholly inadequate to mark the seriousness of Dr Jooste’s misconduct or to protect public confidence in the profession.

 

… The Panel has rarely encountered a doctor to whom so many of the indicative criteria for erasure apply. In short, Dr Jooste’s misconduct is fundamentally incompatible with his continued registration as a doctor.”

 

 

What is your prediction, at this point, as to whether the President is going to allow two doctors with this record to perform surgery on a woman with no capacity (who happens to be the wife of one of them…) ?

 

Yeah, me too.

 

To echo erstwhile comedian and labelled-welly-wearer Jimmy Cricket, come here, there’s more

 

9.As appears from his application form and the attached Annex E, the son made the application as SW’s attorney under a Lasting Power of Attorney (Health and Welfare) purportedly executed by SW on 18 October 2014 and registered on 9 January 2015. He had also been appointed SW’s attorney under a Lasting Power of Attorney (Property and Financial Affairs) purportedly executed by SW and registered on 17 June 2015. SW’s signature on the first of these documents had been witnessed by Dr Waghorn. The certificate declaring that SW understood what she was doing and was not being pressurised was given by Dr Jooste on 23 October 2014, who described himself as SW’s “friend for 10 years.” Both Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste were described as “Dr” though each had by then been struck off.

 

There had also been litigation in the Court of Protection involving not SW as the vulnerable person but SAN

On 8 December 2014, Newton J gave judgment in the Court of Protection in proceedings (COP12599814) relating to SAN and the proposed treatment of his condition, in which Dr Waghorn appeared on behalf of SAN apparently pursuant to a lasting Power of Attorney (Health and Welfare) granted on 5 September 2013.

 

 

11.So far as material for present purposes, what Newton J said was this:

 

 

 

“… in order for the Court to exercise jurisdiction, in the Court of Protection, there has to be evidence that the patient does not have capacity …

 

The short [point] here is that all the evidence, in fact, points the other way. In fact there is absolutely no evidence that he lacks capacity at all, indeed quite the reverse. My attention has been drawn to the letter dated 16th October 2014 from Dr Bray which makes it clear that Dr Hunter, who is the consultant haematologist who is currently treating [SAN], is sure that he has full capacity regarding the decisions concerning his own health, but did not wish to pursue those other treatments.

 

Enquiries both of the insurers, and the legal advice by the medical group confirm that [SAN] has capacity, there is therefore no need for any best interests decision involving his power of attorney. In fact, Dr Bray spoke to [SAN] and he made it very clear that he did not wish for this matter to be pursued at that time and would like things left as they were. That point of view was reiterated by [SAN] himself as recently as Thursday of last week, when enquiries were made on behalf of NHS England. He made it plain that he was currently in remission, that he did not wish for the treatment to be pursued, and that he did not wish there to be court action.

 

Dr Waghorn feels that that very acutely, not least because of his expertise as a doctor, but also I have no doubt because of his concern and affection for his brother-in-law, he is deeply anxious that his brother-in-law simply does not grasp the full effect and indeed understanding of (A) his illness, and (B) what may be done to alleviate or assist him. And that is a point to which Dr Waghorn has repeatedly returned. But, counsel has pointed out, it seems to me correctly that that is for those are dealing with matters or treatment, and it is not for me in arrangement without first being able to establish lack of capacity …

 

It is a short point. As I explained to Dr Waghorn, in order for the Court to deal with the matter I have to have jurisdiction: there is no reason to believe, that he does not have capacity, as the lawyers or doctors understand it. His own treating clinician believes that he has capacity, she having treated him for some time. It is clear, as I understand the evidence, that he has consented to and understands his medical condition and the treatment options, as is plain from the papers. [SAN] himself does not agree that he lacks capacity: he believes that he has capacity to make decisions about his medical treatment and does not, in fact, agree with this application being made. The practitioner who spoke to him as recently as last week also considered, that he also did not lack capacity.

 

Therefore, whilst I understand the position in which Dr Waghorn has found himself, in my judgment I do not think, and indeed I am entirely satisfied that I do not have the jurisdiction to make any decisions in relation to [SAN’s] medical condition and treatment. I have no jurisdiction because there is no evidence that he does not have capacity, even on an interim basis (indeed quite the contrary).”

 

A company then sought to judicially review the NHS decision in this case not to allow surgery. Coincidentally, two directors of that company were Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste. That application was dismissed on 9 June 2015 by Hayden J as being “totally without merit.” The judge observed that “The claim is at best vexatious, nor is it presented in any coherent or logical manner.”

The President remarks :-

13.There is a common thread to all three sets of proceedings, the purpose in each case being to obtain from the court relief facilitating or enabling Dr Waghorn and/or Dr Jooste to carry out an allogeneic bone marrow transplant from SW to SAN.

 

Dr Waghorn sought to involve the Anthony Nolan charity as interveners. Unsurprisingly, they declined. In much the same way that I would decline an invitation to “Tequilla-Fueled Sword Swallowing for Beginners, followed by candlelight dinner with Katie Hopkins and Eric Pickles”

 

 

 

15.Dr Waghorn sought to enlist the interest, and indeed involvement as intervenor in the present proceedings, of the well-known Anthony Nolan charity. On 28 February 2017 he received this stinging rebuff:

 

 

 

“… I would like to underline that we do not want to be involved in this case.

[Almost word for word what I said to Katie and Eric, btw. Well, actually, my response had certain rhyming qualities with the description of these two doctors in the title of the blog post…]

 

Anthony Nolan’s position is that allogeneic stem cell transplantation should be provided by registered specialist transplant physicians in an accredited NHS or accredited private transplant centre setting.

 

As such we do not want to be involved in this case in any way.

 

Please do not contact us again about this case.”

 

Dr Waghorn’s riposte was to threaten the writer of that letter with a subpoena to attend the hearing on 3 March 2017 – a threat which appears not to have been carried through.

 

 

The Judge then considers the position of SW, noting that the evidence as to her capacity or lack thereof was rather deficient. Her IQ was now around 78, having been previously about 90. That isn’t of itself, suggestive of a lack of capacity.

 

25.Quite apart from the issue of SW’s capacity, there are three particularly striking features of this application:

 

 

 

 

  1. i) First, there appears to have been, so far as I can see, and I pressed the son on this point, no discussion or consultation with SW about this application. I was told nothing about her wishes and feelings. What are they? More fundamentally, there seems to have been a wholesale failure to have regard to the fundamentally important principle in section 4(4) of the 2005 Act, requiring, “so far as reasonably practicable, [a decision-maker to] permit and encourage [SW] to participate, or to improve [her] ability to participate, as fully as possible in any act done for [her] and any decision affecting [her].”

 

  1. ii) Secondly, there appears likewise to have been no discussion or consultation with SAN about his wishes – a particularly egregious omission given everything Newton J had said as recently as December 2014. All the son could say, in answer to my probing, was words to the effect that ‘obviously he will agree because no-one wants to die.‘ Even as a general proposition this is not without its difficulties; in the present case it does not begin to address the obvious questions flowing from Newton J’s findings. This omission is also very significant for another reason for, according to the son’s skeleton argument, allogeneic bone marrow transplantation carries “a significant risk of mortality” for the donee.

 

iii) Thirdly, the application is put before me by the son explicitly on the basis that those with “clinical responsibility” for SW are two individuals who, although this was concealed from me, have in fact both been struck off the medical register, and that the relevant “treatment” is to be provided by one of these two struck off doctors. A prudent judge probably never says “never”, but I find it impossible to conceive of circumstances where the Court of Protection would ever contemplate authorising treatment of a kind referred to in PD9E (and this is such treatment: see PD9E, para 6(b), following Re Y, pages 116-117) where the treatment is to be given by a doctor who has been struck off.

26.A curious observation at the very end of the son’s skeleton argument, makes me wonder what, and who, are really driving this application. He is SW’s son, and puts himself forward as making the application as her attorney, yet he says of the declaration he seeks:

 

 

 

“If granted, such a Declaration will enable the public to obtain these life-saving, and curative treatments, from family members – not only for haematological cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma but also for solid tumours, with minimal residual disease, such as metastatic breast, colon & pancreas.”

 

Is there some wider agenda at work here, and, if so, whose agenda is it?

 

 

I like “a prudent Judge probably never says Never”

 

 

 

As we all suspected, the application was dismissed, leaving just issues of costs and anonymity in any published judgment

 

33.As it has been presented to the court, this scarcely coherent application is totally without merit, it is misconceived and it is vexatious. It would be contrary to every principle of how litigation ought to be conducted in the Court of Protection, and every principle of proper case management, to allow this hopelessly defective application to proceed on the forlorn assumption that the son could somehow get his tackle in order and present a revised application which could somehow avoid the fate of its predecessor.

 

 

34.The application must be struck out.

 

 

35.There remain two other matters I have to decide.

 

 

36.The first relates to costs. The HTA seeks costs which it invites me summarily to assess in the sum of £7,671.

 

 

37.As against the son, the claim for costs could not, in my judgment, be clearer. Given everything I have said, this is the plainest possible case for departing from the ordinary rule, set out in rule 157 of the Court of Protection Rules 2007, and applying the principles set out in rule 159. In saying this I make clear that I attribute no responsibility at all to the son for the previous litigation; but his conduct of the present proceedings is of itself more than adequate justification for ordering him to pay the costs. The amounts claimed are, in my judgment, plainly reasonable, and he has not sought to challenge any of the individual items or amounts. He says that he is “at this present moment” unable to afford the costs, praying in aid the fact that the Jobseekers Allowance he was previously receiving terminated in January 2017. That may be, but inability to pay is not, of itself, any answer to an otherwise appropriate order for costs and, in all the circumstances, I see no reason why he should not be ordered to pay the costs, and in the amount claimed. Impecuniosity does not provide immunity from the normal consequences of forensic folly.

 

 

38.As against Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste, the question is not quite so simple because they, of course, were not applicants in the proceedings. But, and it is a very significant but, they each sought to be joined as a party and expressed themselves as consenting to the application; without any challenge on their part, they were put forward by the son as having clinical responsibility for SW; as I have already described, they seemed throughout the hearing to be making common cause with the son; and Dr Waghorn himself sought relief from the court. In these circumstances, and having regard to the principles expounded in Dymocks Franchise Systems (NSW) Pty Ltd v Todd [2004] UKPC 39, [2004] 1 WLR 2807, and Deutsche Bank AG v Sebastian Holdings Inc and another [2016] EWCA Civ 23, [2016] 4 WLR 17, to which Ms Khalique referred me, both Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste, in my judgment, are persons against whom a costs order can be made even though are not, formally, parties to the litigation – and, if that is so, then for the same reasons as in relation to the son, it is, in my judgment, fair and just to order them to pay the costs.

 

 

39.I shall, therefore, order the son, Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste to pay the costs, summarily assessed, in the sum of £7,671.

 

 

40.The remaining matter relates to the reporting restriction order. There is no reason why either SW or SAN should be named, and, indeed, every reason why they should not. Nor, in all the circumstances, is there any reason why the son should be named. Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste, however, stand in a very different position. There is a very strong public interest in exposing the antics which these two struck-off doctors have got up to, not least so that others may be protected from their behaviour. I appreciate that the effect of naming Dr Waghorn may make it a matter of simplicity for anyone minded to do so to put names to both SW and SAN, but for reasons which will be all too apparent they also need to be protected, for example if there were to be any further attempt to embroil them in litigation. The balance is properly held, in my judgment, by varying the reporting restriction order so as to permit the naming of Dr Waghorn and Dr Jooste while continuing to forbid the naming of SW, SAN and the son.

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Legal aid, Court of Protection and ‘contrivance’

Posted on November 27, 2016 by suesspiciousminds

 

This is a Court of Protection case, and it is a Charles J judgment, which means that although it is important, it is complicated and challenging. If you aren’t working in the COP field, you can probably skip most of it and just go to the bits where Charles J is erm direct in his views about the Legal Aid Agency and the Secretary of State, who were both joined as parties.  That’s towards the bottom – and it is good stuff so worth a read purely for schadenfreude about those two massively popular bodies being taken down a peg or two.

The case involved a man who as a result of a road traffic accident in July 2015 had been unconscious since that time, and whether he should continue to have Clinically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration (CANH)

Clearly the man lacked capacity, so an argument about this would have to be dealt with under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and in the Court of Protection. There’s absolutely and undoubtedly a valid argument to be had about whether the continuation of this treatment is in his best interests or not.

The case isn’t really about THAT argument, it is about a preliminary argument.

Is the application before the Court for :-

 

(a) section 5 and section 16 of the MCA  which allows the Court to consider all of the welfare issues set out in the MCA and make a best interests declaration ;

 

or

(b)  A challenge under s21A of the MCA – which relates to the Court’s powers to consider any aspect of P’s life or plans or arrangements for P if his liberty is being deprived.  I.e is it a DOLS case?

 

That seems to be sterile and academic, but actually it isn’t.  Because answer (b) can potentially attract non-means legal aid and answer (a) cannot.  So if the Legal Aid Agency granted legal aid on the basis of (b) it would be free to P’s wife to make the challenge and be represented in Court, and if they granted it on the basis of (a)  she would have to make a contribution, and in this case the level of those contributions would be at a level where she could not afford it and thus have to represent herself in proceedings about whether in effect her husband should be allowed to die.  (P’s wife and his family would like the CANH to be withdrawn and P provided with palliative care, the hospital would wish to continue the feeding treatment)

 

I have to say that my immediate view on this was that whilst P is not free to get up and leave the hospital, and he does not enjoy the same liberty as you and I, it is EXTREMELY hard to argue that the restrictions on his liberty is imposed on him by the State. They are surely a natural consequence of his medical condition.

Briggs v Briggs and Others 2016  EWCOP 48

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2016/48.html

Charles J says this:-

 

 

  • The case has been argued before me on the premise that:

 

i) applying the decision of the Supreme Court in P (By His Litigation Friend the Official Solicitor) v Cheshire West and Chester Council and Another; P and Q (By Their Litigation Friend the Official Solicitor) v Surrey County Council [2014] UKSC 19; [2014] AC 896 (“Cheshire West”) Mr Briggs is being deprived of his liberty at the Walton Centre, andii) the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (the DOLS) apply to Mr Briggs (and so the point referred to in paragraph 101 of my judgment in LF v HM Coroner [2015] EWHC 2990 (Admin); [2016] WLR 2385 was not advanced).

One of the reasons for this was that the LF case is listed to be heard in the Court of Appeal before Christmas.

 

  • In any event, if I am right in AM v South London & Maudsley NHS & Secretary of State for Health [2013] UKUT 365 (AAC); [2013] COPLR 510 the DOLS may well continue to apply for some time to the circumstances in which Mr Briggs finds himself in the hospital (and on any move to another hospital) on the basis that he may be being deprived of his liberty.
  • I accept that this approach is a sensible one but record that it was made for and limited to the preliminary issue before me in this case. At least one of the parties indicated that it was not accepted that Mr Briggs was being deprived of his liberty and all parties reserved their right to argue that one or both of the underlying premises is incorrect.
  • I also make the general comments that:

 

i) the circumstances in which Mr Briggs finds himself flow inexorably from his accident, the damage that caused to his brain and body and the package of care and treatment that damage necessitated on and after his admission to hospital, and soii) to my mind, it follows that it cannot be said that his deprivation of liberty in hospital is imposed by others as, for example might be said in respect of the consequence of decisions made to admit and detain a person in hospital under s. 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

 

 

  • A standard authorisation under the DOLS in respect of Mr Briggs has been granted by the relevant supervisory body at the request of the Walton Centre. It expires in December.

 

I will cut to the chase – Charles J did decide to treat this case as a s21A case, and thus has found that Mr Briggs (P) is being deprived of his liberty and is entitled to make use (through his family) of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

 

  • 74. So if the result of the CANH issue is that it should be part of Mr Briggs’ treatment, I consider that:

 

i) pending a move to a rehabilitation centre, the authorisation of his deprivation of liberty at the hospital should no longer be governed by the standard authorisation (continued if necessary by the COP) but by the welfare order made by the COP although a continuation of a DOLS authorisation is a possibility,ii) so (unless there is an automatic termination) the existing DOLS authorisation should be terminated under s. 21A(3) as a direct consequence of the best interests CANH decision,

iii) the making of orders under s. 21A (6) and (7) may need to be considered, and

iv) how the deprivation of liberty at the rehabilitation centre is to be authorised should be addressed by the COP and it may be that any court order should end on the transfer and that reliance should then be placed on s. 5 of the MCA and a DOLS authorisation.

 

  • 75. Alternatively, if the conclusion of the COP on the CANH issue is that it should not be part of Mr Briggs’ treatment I consider that:

 

i) the position relating to Mr Briggs’ deprivation of liberty pending a move to another placement where Mr Briggs receives palliative care should be covered by a court order although if the treating team change their position authorisation under a continuation of a DOLS authorisation is a possibility,ii) so (unless there is an automatic termination) the existing DOLS authorisation should be terminated under s. 21A(3) as a direct result of the best interests decision as a direct consequence of the best interests CANH decision,

iii) the making of orders under s. 21A(6) and (7) will need to be considered, and

iv) how the deprivation of liberty at the new placement (probably a hospice) is to be authorised should be addressed by the COP.

 

  •  So I agree that the determinative or central issue is whether CANH is in Mr Briggs’ best interests and the conclusion on it should found an order under s. 16(2). But, in my view the consequences set out in the last two paragraphs mean that the determination of that issue by the COP founds and so is directly relevant to its consideration of its exercise of its functions under s. 21A (which it can exercise whether or not proceedings above have been issued under s. 21A).

 

 

{I’m very glad that I don’t work in a hospital legal department, because it is now very unclear to me whether every patient they have in an unconscious state or coma requires a DOLS authorisation. It is certainly a possible interpretation of this case}

 

Mrs Briggs argued in the case that s21A did apply . The Official Solicitor, the Secretary of State and the Legal Aid Agency argued that it didn’t, and that even if this WERE a DOLS case, there should be one non-means certificate to deal specifically with the issue of whether P’s liberty should be deprived, and another to deal with best interests decision about his care plan and treatment. The Hospital Trust were entirely neutral. It seems rather odd to me that nobody argued before the Court that the s21A issue is a contrivance using complicated legal finesse to attract non-means public funding to a situation where it doesn’t really apply.  (Perhaps they didn’t argue it because it appears that the idea emerged from decisions made by Charles J himself in other cases…)

 

 

  • It was not argued the proceedings issued by Mrs Briggs were an abuse or a contrivance. Indeed it was accepted that:

 

i) they were not,ii) the COP can grant relief under other sections of the MCA (and so under ss. 15 and 16) in an application under s. 21A (see Re UF [2013] 4289 at paragraph 11 and CC v KK [2012] EWHC 2136 (COP)), and so

iii) the COP could have granted relief in this case under ss. 15 and 16 if the only application before it had been that made by Mrs Briggs in reliance on s. 21A, and it could do this without directing that a further application be made,

iv) Practice Direction 9E, and no other Rule or provision, provided that an application “relating to” a best interests decision about serious medical treatment should be commenced in any particular way,

v) there was no difficulty in complying with Practice Direction 9E in proceedings issued in reliance on s. 21A and, in any event, Rule 26 of the COP Rules 2007 enables the COP to depart from it,

vi) whatever the result on the CANH issue Mr Briggs will continue to be deprived of his liberty and so when the COP determines that issue it will need to address how that deprivation of liberty is authorised, and

vii) on the approach taken in Re UF the authorisation under the DOLS (or a replacement) would remain in existence until the COP had decided the CANH issue and a decision about it under ss. 21A (3), (6) and (7) would or may be needed.

 

  • The points listed in the last paragraph are important because they mean that:

 

i) Mrs Briggs’ proceedings are proceedings under s. 21A and that applying Re UF until this case is decided by the COP an authorisation under the DOLS will remain in existence and so on any view those proceedings have an authorisation to bite on, and in my viewii) the COP can grant relief under s. 21A in an application brought for orders under ss. 15 and 16 of the MCA (the mirror image of Re UF and CC v KK).

 

  • Re UF addressed the same Legal Aid Regulation and identified a route (accepted by the LAA) that:

 

i) continued eligibility for non means tested legal aid although the COP (rather than the supervisory body) took the relevant decisions, andii) meant that what happened to that authorisation was a live issue at the end of the case.

 

  • My understanding is that the approach set out in Re UF has been applied in a number of proceedings brought under s. 21A which have turned on a detailed assessment of the relevant package of care, support and treatment, possible alternatives and which of them the COP has concluded will best promote P’s best interests.
  • So Re UF identified a route that the LAA accepted was not a contrivance by which non means tested legal aid was available albeit that the COP took over all decision making and could make decisions under ss. 15, 16 and 21A. Here Mrs Briggs’ proceedings came first and in Re UF separate proceedings seeking a welfare order and/or declarations had not been issued. Whether proceedings under s. 21A could be issued second to trigger eligibility to non means tested legal aid was not argued before me, but it would be surprising if the order of issue affected the application of Re UF and so the availability of non means tested legal aid. Also, it was not argued before me whether applying Regulation 5 non means tested legal aid could be given to both P and an RPR or only to one of them. I expressed the preliminary view that it could be given to both.
  • Experience indicates that many if not most cases brought under s. 21A in respect of a DOLS authorisation turn on the best interests assessment made by the COP and many lead to changes in the package of care, support and treatment to make it less restrictive rather than a change of circumstances that result in P no longer being deprived of his physical liberty and that these are implemented by or reflected in orders made under s. 21A varying the DOLS authorisation directly or by reference to the care plan it is based on or imposing conditions as a direct result of the best interests conclusion reached by the COP.

 

Charles J had THIS to say about the legal aid agency

 

 

  • The positions of the Secretary of State, the LAA and the Official Solicitor varied on the availability of non means tested legal aid for representation to present arguments on issues relating to the care, support or treatment of a P and so his care plan and needs assessment, and so on what the COP could properly consider and grant relief in respect of under or applying s. 21A:

 

i) the Official Solicitor submitted that non means tested funding for such representation was not available for any of such issues because they all related to the conditions of a detention and so were outside the ambit of the DOLS and s. 21A,ii) the Secretary of State submitted that such funding was available for representation on such issues if they related to “physical liberty”. As I understand the Secretary of State’s position that includes an examination of less restrictive conditions relating to physical liberty even though they also create a deprivation of liberty within Article 5 in the same or a different placement (e.g. a change from locked doors to door sensors and greater freedom of movement within a Care Home). But if that understanding is wrong, it is clear that the Secretary of State distinguishes between conditions that relate to physical liberty and those that do not – which, in the context of alternative regimes at the only available Care Home, it was submitted include the availability of en suite bathrooms or food choices or things of that nature. That distinction flows from the way in which the Secretary of State advanced his argument by reference to what is and is not covered by and so justiciable under Article 5, and

iii) although at the hearing it adopted the arguments of the Secretary of State on the meaning and effect of s. 21A and Regulation 5, the LAA was not prepared to commit to any circumstances in which it accepted that such funding was available for representation on such issues.

 

  • That stance of the LAA and experience of its general approach founds the conclusion that there is a real risk that:

 

i) it will seek to advance any point it considers to be arguable to avoid paying legal aid on a non means tested basis in respect of issues relevant to the circumstances of a P who is the subject of a DOLS authorisation,ii) in doing so, it will change its existing approach in such cases and so challenge Re UF and/or change the stance it adopted in that case,

iii) in doing so, it will adopt the position of the Official Solicitor and not that of the Secretary of State set out in paragraph 36 (i) and (ii) respectively.

 

  • After the hearing I was helpfully provided with further information by counsel for the LAA about its approach in the past and the future. This refers to the reliance placed on what the LAA is told and indicates that the approach in Re UF is being and will continue to be accepted and applied with the result that if the COP continues the DOLS authorisation non means tested legal aid will continue to be available in respect of applications about it. But it asserts that non means tested legal aid is (and has only been made) available in respect of matters that “relate directly to the discharge or variation of the standard or urgent authorisation” and that providers should always apply for a separate certificate to carry out non means tested services as and when these arise alongside a non means tested matter. This does not fully accord with the understanding of the solicitors acting for Mrs Briggs on the existing approach of the LAA and, more importantly it does not explain:

 

i) what matters the LAA says are directly related to the discharge or variation of a continuing DOLS authorisation, andii) whether it adopts the position of the Secretary of State or the Official Solicitor.

To my mind, although it seems to show that Re UF will continue to be applied this further information perpetuates uncertainty and so compounds the risk that the approach of the LAA will give rise to serious and possibly insurmountable hurdles being put in the way of challenges being made by Ps and/or their RPRs to a DOLS authorisation, and so the lawfulness of P’s deprivation of liberty, with the benefit of representation or at all because of the difficulties they would face in respect of contributions and as litigants in person.

 

 

Charles J also had this to say about the Secretary of State and the failure to provide proper scheme for legal representation in the avalanche of DOLS cases since the Supreme Court’s decision in Cheshire West opened the scope of such cases far wider than they had historically been.

 

 

  • The representation of P has been an issue in a line cases that do not fall within the DOLS but in which, applying Cheshire West, P is being deprived of his liberty and so that detention should be authorised by an order made by the COP. The last in the line is Re JM [2016] EWCOP 15. Those cases show the limitations on the availability of legal aid in such cases if they are not disputed. After the JM case, the Secretary of State has acknowledged in correspondence that, contrary to his stance in that case, a resource of people and/or of resources to provide people to act as representatives for Ps who are deprived of their liberty in such cases is not readily available. This means that:

 

i) in that type of case the COP cannot lawfully authorise the deprivations of liberty, and soii) such cases are being stayed, and

iii) many (probably in the thousands rather than the hundreds) of such cases are not being brought in part because they will be stayed and the costs of issuing them can be better spent.

 

  • We are all only too aware of problems flowing from austerity. But assessed through my eyes as Vice President of the Court of Protection the stance being taken by the Secretary of State in this case, and in and after Re JM, demonstrates the existence of a continuing failure by the Secretary of State to address an urgent need to take steps to provide resources that would enable the COP to deal with cases relating to probably thousands of Ps in a lawful way, and so in accordance with the procedural requirements of Article 5 and the requirements of Article 6. The result of this sorry state of affairs is that in probably thousands of cases not covered by the DOLS deprivations of liberty are not being authorised under the amendments made to the MCA by the MHA 2007 to comply with Article 5.

 

I think that most people practising in this area of work know that this is what is happening on the ground, but damn, it is nice to see the Secretary of State being told it in such clear terms.

 

For my part, I think legally that this is a pure device to get around the much loathed LASPO and it is a contrivance; but that it is surely the right outcome in terms of fairness. If anyone found themselves in the dreadful position that Mrs Briggs was in, surely they should have legal representation to help with the Court’s decision as to whether her husband should be fed via artificial means to keep him alive or whether he should be allowed to die with dignity in accordance with his family’s wishes.  Whatever stance you take on the right to die issue, surely it is unacceptable for the State to expect someone to have those difficult arguments without the benefit of legal representation.

 

 

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Cheshire Cat, Cheshire Act

Posted on June 1, 2016 by suesspiciousminds

 

Following the Supreme Court decision in Cheshire West, which greatly expanded the definition of restriction of liberty to the point where the system has almost entirely broken down due to the huge increase in volume, the Law Commission have published an interim report on Deprivation of Liberty.

Unsurprisingly, they say that there’s no hot-fix available for the current mess we are in, and their recommendation is for Parliament to produce a brand new Act to put things right.

Given that Deprivation of Liberty was brought about as a solution for the Bournwood gap when the ECHR finally dealt with that case and told us that there was a truck-sized plot hole in our legislation about restricting the liberty of people who were not criminals and not mentally ill,  “for their own good”,  it probably did well to last as long as it did before crumbling like, well like, Cheshire cheese.

 

Click to access law_commission_deprivation_of_liberty_dols_mental_capacity_interim_statement.pdf

 

1.4 We have concluded that legislative change is the only satisfactory solution to the problems we outline below. During the next phase, the Law Commission will
produce draft legislation and a final report. The process of developing draft legislation is likely to result in some changes of substance to the approach outlined here.
This statement should not be construed as necessarily representing our final position.
1.5 The final report and draft legislation will be published before the end of 2016. It will then be for the Government to decide how the recommendations will be taken
forward.
Why, Government, here is some convenient long grass

Why, Government, here is some convenient long grass

 

GO ON THEN!

GO ON THEN!

 

The Law Commission had a healthy response to its consultation, and this bit was, I think, telling

 

Finally, a significant number of consultees argued that any system which is based on Cheshire West
will be unsustainable. It was argued that the acid test defies common sense, the most frequently quoted examples being end-of-
life care andintensive care units. Most concerns related to the practical implications of Cheshire West .
Local authorities reported significant increases in the numbers of referrals locally (often above the tenfold national figure), widespread
non-compliance with time-scales for assessments and many “low-level” or “community” cases being left unassessed. Many queried why the
Law Commission was not seeking to legislate away the acid test.
Onto some detail
1.37 Nevertheless, it is our view that the new scheme must demonstrably reduce the administrative burden and associated costs of complying with the DoLS by
providing the maximum benefit for the minimum cost. With this in mind, we have therefore concluded that the new scheme should focus solely on
ensuring that those deprived of their liberty have appropriate and proportionate safeguards,and should not seek to go as widely as the protective care scheme.
1.38 We propose to recommend a more straightforward, streamlined and flexible scheme for authorising a deprivation of liberty. The responsibility for establishing
the case for a deprivation of liberty will be shifted onto the commissioning body (such as the NHS or local authority) that is arranging the relevant care or
treatment, and away from the care provider. This should provide greater clarity,since the body directly responsible for the proposed deprivation of liberty would
need to provide evidence to support its case. The required evidence would include a capacity assessment and objective medical evidence of
the need for a deprivation of liberty on account of the person’s mental health condition. The commissioning body would also be required to undertake certain
steps such as arranging for the provision of advocacy (or assistance from an appropriate person) and consulting with family members and others.
1.39 All those deprived of liberty would be eligible for safeguards to secure the protection of their rights under article 5 of the ECHR. For example, all those
deprived of their liberty (as well as others, such as family members and advocates) would have rights to seek reviews of their deprivation of liberty and
bring legal proceedings to challenge the deprivation of liberty. There will also be comprehensive rights to advocacy.
Sounds good, but the real test is going to be how possible it is going to be for a family member to challenge restrictive care arrangments and what help the State will provide them to do so. We know for example, that the Neary case showed up huge problems with the DoLs regime and had to be fought with tenacity by an exceptional human being to get the right outcome in the end. You could ask Mark Neary whether the protections that were in place and the mechanism for family members to be able to challenge were robust enough and simple to follow. I suspect I know what his answer would be.  It shouldn’t require that a vulnerable person needs someone as remarkable as Mark to stand up for them, not every vulnerable person has that luxury.
http://www.lag.org.uk/magazine/2014/07/the-court-of-protection-steven-neary’s-story.aspx
The Law Commission touch on the Neary case here, and suggest some additional safeguards
1.41 By way of amendments to the rest of the Mental Capacity Act, we will also seek to maintain, as much as possible, the article 8 ECHR protections that were
contained in the supportive care elements of the scheme, but in such a way as to minimise the demand upon services. These amendments will be aimed primarily
at ensuring that there is proper consideration, in advance of the decision being made, of the necessity of removing individuals from their own home and placing
them in institutional care in the name of their best interests.
The failures of public bodies in this regard have been evident in high-profile cases such as London Borough of Hillingdon v Neary and Essex County Council v RF
The amendments would also aim at giving greater priority to the person’s wishes and feelings when a best interests decision is being made, and qualifying the
immunity from legal action in respect of best interests decisions under section 5 of the Mental Capacity Act so as to provide additional procedural safeguards in
respect of certain key decisions by public authorities.
1.42 In addition we are considering whether a defined group of people should receive additional independent oversight of the deprivation of their liberty, which would be undertaken by an Approved Mental Capacity Professional. Owing to the vast number of people now considered to be deprived of their liberty
following Cheshire West, it would not be proportionate or affordable to provide such oversight to all those caught by article 5 of the ECHR. Whilst
we are still working to develop the precise criteria that would operate to identify this group, we envisage that this group would consist of those who are subject
to greater infringement of their rights, including, in particular, their rights to private and family life under article 8 of the ECHR.
And it wouldn’t be a civil service consultation without an omphaloskepsis exercise of deciding what it should be called
1.47 At consultation we provisionally proposed that the First-tier Tribunal should review cases under our new scheme, thereby replacing the role of the Court of
Protection. This proposal was supported by a significant number of consultees.
We were told that the advantages of a tribunal system included its accessibility, informality and speedy decision-making. But others pointed to the existing levels
of knowledge and expertise in the Court of Protection and the difficulties of demarcation or overlap with the remainder of the Mental Capacity Act if a tribunal
jurisdiction was introduced. We have not yet reached a final decision and will be considering our position further over the coming months.
1.48 Finally, perhaps the issue that provoked most debate at consultation was the nomenclature associated with the DoLS. Most consultees felt that the term
“deprivation of liberty safeguards” was at best unhelpful and, at worst, meant that people were being denied access to legal rights. Some consultees were similarly
critical of our proposed new terminology, including the label “protective care”. A number of consultees suggested the name “liberty safeguards”, whilst the next
favourite was “capacity safeguards”. However, there was no consensus on the terminology that should be adopted. Therefore we invite further
views (by 23 June 2016) on the name that should be given to the new scheme.
Please send your suggestions to Olivia.Bird@lawcommission.gsi.gov.uk.
There are some legitimate issues here about how naming something creates a set of preconceptions about what the scheme is for and whether it is intended to be a rights-based or a patrician cotton wool scheme, or where on the scale it falls, but this sort of thing always does remind me of Douglas Adams, writing about a bunch of middle-managers and marketing execs who fled their own planet and find themselves living on Earth in the stone age, trying to rebuild society from the ground up.
Well, you’re obviously being totally naive of course“, said the girl, “When you’ve been in marketing as long as I have, you’ll know that before any new product can be developed it has to be properly researched. We’ve got to find out what people want from fire, how they relate to it, what sort of image it has for them.”
The crowd were tense. They were expecting something wonderful from Ford.
“Stick it up your nose,” he said.
“Which is precisely the sort of thing we need to know,” insisted the girl, “Do people want fire that can be fitted nasally?“
“And the wheel,” said the Captain, “What about this wheel thingy? It sounds a terribly interesting project.”
“Ah,” said the marketing girl, “Well, we’re having a little difficulty there.”
“Difficulty?” exclaimed Ford. “Difficulty? What do you mean, difficulty? It’s the single simplest machine in the entire Universe!“
The marketing girl soured him with a look.
“Alright, Mr. Wiseguy,” she said, “if you’re so clever, you tell us what colour it should be.“

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Woman who sparked versus Magical Sparkle Powers

Posted on April 28, 2016 by suesspiciousminds

You might remember this Court of Protection case

https://suesspiciousminds.com/2015/12/02/a-life-that-sparkles/

where a woman was found by the Court of Protection to have capacity to refuse medical treatment, even though doing so would be likely to bring about her death. The woman had some unusual (though capacitous) ideas about how she wanted to live, and she preferred to leave life whilst she still felt glamourous and sparkling, rather than to limp on in life and eventually fade away. It was an interesting case, with a lot to debate. As a result of this decision, she did die, leaving three children, one of whom was still a minor. Very sad case.

Sadly, some of the mainstream Press, having spent years sobbing outside the doors of the Court of Protection wanting to be let in to report responsibly, rather let themselves down, with the reporting they carried out

 

 

  • The application came before me on 9 December 2015. In summary, the statements filed in support of it show that:

 

i) V and G have been distressed by having to be involved in the COP proceedings, and by the extensive media interest in the information about C and their family that was provided to the COP, which appears to them to have been precipitated not only by a wish to report and comment on the bases on which the COP reached its decision but also to attract prurient interest in their mother’s sexual and relationship history (including her relationship with her children V, G and A).ii) At the time of the hearing before MacDonald J, neither V nor G anticipated the possibility that C and her family would be named in the press and that photographs of them would be published. Their attention was entirely taken up with the decision the COP was required to make and its implications.

iii) C’s youngest daughter, A, is a teenager who was already suffering from fragile mental health which has manifested itself in her physical conduct. The suicide attempt of her mother and her subsequent refusal of life-sustaining treatment despite A’s request to her to accept treatment, with which A had a direct and stressful involvement, have understandably had an appalling impact on A’s emotional and psychological wellbeing.

iv) A has already been negatively affected by the media coverage of the family, despite attempts by her father to shield her from it. Inevitably, A has now been told about certain very limited aspects of the COP’s reasoning, including negative descriptions of her mother’s character, which have upset her further. A’s father and one of her teachers are sure that if her mother is named, this will have an even more serious effect on A’s mental wellbeing and her ability to cope at school. V also asks the court to have regard to the serious risks of harassment of A not only directly from people around her, e.g. at school, but also on the internet including and in particular through social media.

v) There have been numerous attempts by journalists to contact the family and people with a previous relationship with C and her children.

vi) Family photographs have been obtained and published in a pixelated form.

 

  • Before the reporting restrictions order was extended:

 

i) At around 5.30 pm on Wednesday 2 December 2015 a reporter from the Daily Mail went to the home of A’s father (an ex-husband of C) where A lives. A answered the door and without saying who she was the reporter asked to speak to her father using his name, V asked who she was and was told that she was a journalist from the Daily Mail, A’s father came downstairs and the journalist asked if he would talk to her about his ex-wife. He refused and the journalist left.ii) On the evening of 2 December 2015 a reporter from the Mail on Sunday was asking questions about C in one of the pubs in the village where A and her father live. This was reported to V by friends in the village.

 

  • More generally, the evidence indicates that on unspecified dates (a) the Daily Mail and the Sun contacted C’s third ex-husband in America, and (b) a journalist went to see the husband of the housekeeper of flats where G had once lived seeking G’s current details on the basis that he was writing a memorial piece about G’s mother and was sure that G would want to speak to him. During his visit he opened C’s Facebook page.
  • Some of the coverage contains pixelated photographs of C, V and G. It is plain that some of these photographs have been chosen as photographs that emphasise the aspects of the published accounts that are of prurient interest and there is at least a risk, particularly in respect to C, that she would be recognised by some people.
  • Examples of reporting in the Times (4 December), the Daily Mail (6 December) and the Sun Online (6 December), are highlighted by V:

 

i) the Times ran a pixelated photograph of C on its front page with a caption “Voluntary death. The socialite allowed to die at 50 rather than grow old had a narcissistic disorder, doctors said. A court ruling blocked her identification. Page 7”. The article at page 7 was under the headline: “I won’t become an old banger” there was a further pixelated photograph of C standing by a car and a pixelated photograph of one of C’s adult daughters,ii) the Daily Mail at pages 26 and 27 published the same pixelated photograph as that on the front page of the Times and the article had the headline: “Revealed: Truth about the socialite who chose death over growing old and ugly —- and the troubling questions over a judge’s decision to let her do it”. Near the end of the article it is stated: “For the husband and daughters she leaves behind, the manner of her death is heartbreaking”, and

iii) the Sun Online has two headlines: “Mum who fought to die was “man eater obsessed with sex, cars and cash” and “A Socialite who chose to die at 50 rather than grow old was a “man eater obsessed with sex, money and cars”, a pal claimed yesterday” and published two pixelated photographs of C at a younger age each showing her with a drink in hand. In one in which she is wearing a low-cut party dress and in the other she is raising her skirt, standing by a vintage motor car and wearing what appears to be the same outfit as she is wearing in the photograph on the front page of the Times and in the Daily Mail.

 

There’s an old Aesop fable about a frog and a scorpion. The scorpion wants to cross a river and asks the frog if he can ride across on the frog’s back. No, the frog responds, you’ll sting me and I’ll die. Wait, says the scorpion, if I was foolish enough to sting you whilst we were crossing, we’d both die – you from the sting, but I would drown, so it won’t be in my interests to sting you. The frog agrees. Midway across the river, the scorpion begins stinging the frog. The frog shouts, if you keep doing that, we’ll both die. The scorpion says, I know, but it’s in my nature.

 

frog-scorpion

It really isn’t in the longer term interests of the Press to sting the frog of transparency by using that additional access to behave so irresponsibly and despicably, but it’s in their nature.

Anyhow, this is Charles J’s decision on the Reporting Restriction Order.

V v Associated Newspapers Ltd 2016

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2016/21.html

 

The first law Geeky point, hence the title, is what jurisdiction the Court of Protection have to make a Reporting Restriction Order. The argument goes like this :- (a) The Court of Protection exists to determine whether a person has capacity, and if not, what is in their best interests and you have already ruled that this woman HAD capacity, so your involvement stops and (b) as she is now dead, whatever jurisdiction you had over her affairs is now gone. Decent points.

Charles J concluded that the CoP did still have jurisdiction, and in any event, if they don’t, then the High Court will just use Magical Sparkle Powers (TM)

 

  • I have concluded:

 

(1) The COP has jurisdiction after the finding that C had capacity and her death to make the reporting restrictions order sought by the Applicant but insofar as it may be necessary or appropriate I will also make it as a High Court judge.

There is a longer answer here:-

Jurisdiction of the COP to make a reporting restrictions / anonymity order after it has determined that C had capacity and/ or after C’s death

  • As I have already mentioned this jurisdictional point is raised by the media Respondents but they do not resist me making an injunction as a High Court judge. They base the argument on the finding of capacity made by MacDonald J. The Applicant addresses the relevant jurisdictional effect of this finding and of C’s death.
  • The media Respondents rely by analogy on In re Trinity Mirror Plc and others [2008] QB 770 concerning s.45(4) of the Supreme Court Act 1981 which provided that in “all other matters incidental to its jurisdiction” the Crown Court was to have the like powers, rights, privileges and authority as the High Court. The Court of Appeal held that the Crown Court has no inherent jurisdiction to grant injunctions and that unless “the proposed injunction is directly linked to the exercise of the Crown Court’s jurisdiction and the exercise of its statutory functions, the appropriate jurisdiction is lacking”.
  • Section 47 of the MCA is worded slightly differently and provides that: “the court has in connection with its jurisdiction the same powers, rights, privileges and authority as the High Court”. It is generally accepted that the COP does not have an inherent jurisdiction so the issue is whether it can grant an injunction because it is exercising that power “in connection with its jurisdiction“.
  • At the time that the reporting restrictions order was made in this case by Moor J, sitting as a judge of the COP, I consider that it is clear that he was making that order in connection with the jurisdiction of the COP to determine initially whether or not C had capacity. In my view, it follows that he could in reliance on s. 47 have made that order for a period extending beyond any finding made that C had capacity, or the death of C (as to which see further below), if he had thought that that was appropriate. He did not do so.
  • The effect of the argument of the media Respondents is that if the hearing on 13 November 2015 had been before a judge, other than a High Court judge (which is not the practice in serious medical treatment cases but could occur in other cases) that judge having determined and announced his decision that C had capacity as a judge of the COP had no jurisdiction to continue, vary or discharge the injunction granted by Moor J. To my mind, that would be an unfortunate and odd result particularly, for example, if C had asked for it to be discharged. However, in my view, it does not arise because I consider that the termination, continuation or variation of an injunction made by the COP in the exercise of its jurisdiction conferred by s. 47 would also be within the jurisdiction so conferred as being “in connection with its jurisdiction”.
  • However, by its terms the injunction that was granted by Moor J expired on the death of C and so the present application is for a new injunction that was made at a time when for two reasons the COP no longer had jurisdiction over C and was therefore functus officio.
  • The Applicant points to a number of sections in the MCA which give the COP jurisdiction to make orders in respect of persons whether they have or lack capacity (see ss 15 (1)(c), 21A, 23 and 26(3)) but, in my view, this does not provide an answer because in this case the COP was not exercising jurisdiction under any of those sections.
  • To my mind the question on this application is whether the COP has power to grant a new injunction because it relates to proceedings that were before it although by reason of its decision and/or the death of P it no longer has any jurisdiction to make the welfare order sought. The answer is determined by considering whether in those circumstances it is exercising a power “in connection with its jurisdiction“. In my view the answer is that it is. This is because, in my view, the nature and extent of the relevant Article 8 rights relied on flows from the existence of the earlier proceedings before the COP, in which it exercised its jurisdiction and I see no reason to construe s. 47 to limit the power it confers to the period during which that jurisdiction continues to exist over the subject of the proceedings.
  • Indeed, I agree with the Applicant that the principle that legislation should be interpreted so far as possible to be compatible with Convention rights supports this conclusion because:

i) it promotes the grain of the legislation (the MCA), andii) it enables the court best placed to carry out the balancing exercise between competing Convention rights to perform that exercise.

  • That grain links back to the points I have already made that the jurisdiction of the COP invades not only the life of its subject P but also on many occasions the lives of others and in particular P’s family members.
  • Conclusion. I can make the injunction sought as a judge of the COP and I do so. However to avoid any jurisdictional argument in the future, and if and so far as this is necessary, I also make it as a High Court judge exercising the jurisdiction of that court.

 

The central issue here was whether the Press could report the story, and deal with both the human interest angle and the issue for public debate (the case being categorised – incorrectly, as a ‘right to die’ case, which is always interesting to the public – in fact, it is not a development of law at all, because people with capacity have always been able to refuse medical treatment, which is all that happened here) WITHOUT identifying the woman at the heart of the story. Clearly, the Press knew who she was, because they were able to doorstep people who knew her, look at her Facebook page and print pixelated images of her.

 

 

  • The naming propositions are reflected in the following points made by Mr Steafel:

 

The Daily Mail considers it has a duty to the public to report fairly and accurately on what happens in the courts. In order to engage the interest of members of the public in the kinds of issues the court decides, it is however necessary to publish articles and reports that people actually want to read. That means telling our readers about the facts of the cases, including the real people and places involved, and sometimes publishing pictures that relate to these people and places.

Where proceedings are anonymised, it is more difficult to engage our readers as the real people involved in the cases are necessarily invisible and the stories therefore lack a vital human dimension. It is human nature to find it more difficult to take an interest in a story about problems arising from, say, dementia or the right to die if the story does not feature identifiable individuals. If we cannot publish stories about important issues that people are drawn to read, this will inevitably limit and reduce the quality of public debate around these issues. It is in my view important in a democratic society that we should encourage informed debate I believe that the media, including the popular press, fulfils a vital function in this regard. By reading about the experiences of others, readers are likely to be able to identify with those people and understand what they are going through. But they are much less engaged – and correspondingly less focused on the surrounding public debate – where they cannot identify with real people, places and events. Pictures are a hugely potent way of engaging readers and one of the problems with covering anonymised cases is that it is impossible to include pictures in our stories which identify those involved.

 

  • I agree that fair and accurate reporting is vital if the public interest is to be promoted and I acknowledge that whether something is fair involves a value judgment and does not equate to it being balanced.
  • On the intense scrutiny that is required of the rival propositions relating to anonymisation I consider that a distinction can be made between (a) cases where pursuant to the default or general position under the relevant Rules or Practice Directions the court is allowing access (or unrestricted access) to the media and the public, and (b) cases in which it is imposing restrictions and so where the court is turning the tap on rather than off. But, I hasten to accept that this distinction:

 

i) simply reflects the strength of the reasoning that underlies the relevant COP Rules and Practice Directions, the established Scott v Scott exceptions and the positon referred to by Lady Hale that in many, perhaps most cases, the important safeguards secured by a public hearing can be secured without the press publishing or the public knowing the identities of the people involved, and soii) provides weight to the general arguments for anonymity to promote the administration of justice by the COP generally and in the given case, and does not

iii) undermine the force of the naming propositions as general propositions, with the consequence that the COP needs to remember that it is not an editor.

 

  • As I have already said (see paragraphs 94 and 95 above) the weight to be given to (a) the naming propositions, and (b) the conclusion on what generally best promotes the administration of justice will vary from case to case and on a staged approach to a particular case the weight of the naming propositions, and so this aspect of the factors that underlie and promote Article 10, will often fall to be taken into account in the context of (i) the validity of the reasons for their application in that case, and (ii) the impact of a departure in that case from the general conclusion on what generally promotes the administration of justice in cases of that type. This means that those reasons and that impact will need to be identified in a number of cases.
  • As I have already mentioned, although he refers to and relies on the naming propositions Mr Steafel does not say why in this case the relevant public interests, rather than the gratification of a prurient curiosity or interest of the public:

 

i) would be or would have been advanced by the identification of C and members of her family in the publicity that took place,ii) was advanced by the reporting that contained pixelated photographs and focused on C’s lifestyle, or

iii) why he says the balance will change on A’s 18th birthday between reporting that does not name C and her family and reporting that does.

Accordingly he does not say, as an editor, why in this case the view expressed by Theis J that “there is no public interest in C or her family being identified” either is wrong or will become wrong when A is 18.

 

The Press had the chance to set out arguments and provide evidence as to why naming the woman was necessary for the proper and accurate reporting, rather than to gratify prurient curiousity, and they did not do so. Nor did they take up the Court’s offer of the ability to file evidence setting out why they felt the previous reporting and methodology were appropriate…

 

  • S0, to my mind, in this exercise the COP needs to consider why and how the naming propositions, and so the proposed naming or photographs of C and her family members that links them to the COP proceedings, would or would be likely to engage or enhance the engagement of the interest of the public in matters of public interest rather than in those of prurient or sensational interest.
  • This has not been done in this case. But in contrast evidence has been put in on the likely harm to the relevant individuals that such reporting would cause.
  • The ultimate balance in this case on the dispute relating to duration. On one side are:

 

i) the Article 8 rights of all of C’s children,ii) the weight of the arguments for a reporting restrictions order in this case, and so of the general practice in the COP of making such orders in analogous COP cases where the family do not want any publicity and have given evidence of matters that affect their private and family life and that of P of a clearly personal and private nature,

iii) the acceptance by the media Respondents that until A is 18 the balance between the Article 8 rights and Article 10 rights in this case justifies the grant of a reporting restrictions order,

iv) the compelling evidence of the extent and nature of the harm and distress that reporting that identifies C and any member of her family as respectively the subject of (or members of the family of the subject of) the COP proceedings and so of MacDonald J ‘s judgment would cause, and

v) the ability of the court to make a further order if and when circumstances change.

 

  • On the other side are the general propositions relating to the benefits of naming the individuals involved.
  • I accept that Thiess J’s statement that “there is no public interest in C and her family being identified” and my indications of agreement with it at the hearing go too far because of the well-known and important naming propositions and the public interests that underlie them. But, in my view, the absence of an explanation of why:

 

i) the accepted balance changes on A’s 18th birthday and so of why identifying C and her family and linking them to the COP proceedings and the publicity at the end of last year would then promote the public interests that underlie Article 10, or why those public interests could not in this case then still be properly and proportionately served by reporting that observes the reporting restrictions order, orii) more generally why any such identification would at any other time promote (or have promoted) or its absence would harm (or would have harmed) the public interests that underlie and promote Article 10

means that the naming propositions have no real weight in this case and balance of the competing factors comes down firmly in favour of the grant of a reporting restrictions order until further order.

 

As there was to be an Inquest, and Inquests are open to the press and public, the Court did need to consider whether the Reporting Restriction Order should cover the naming of this woman or her family emerging from the Inquest.

The extension of the order to cover C’s inquest.

 

  • The earlier orders provide that the injunction does not restrict publishing information relating to any part of a hearing in a court in England and Wales (including a coroner’s court) in which the court was sitting in public. It seems to me therefore that the result the Applicant seeks would be achieved by changing the word “including” to “excluding”.
  • This is much closer to the position in Re S and Potter P addressed such an application in Re LM [2007] EWHC 1902 (Fam) where he said:

 

The Overall Approach

53. In approaching this difficult case, I consider that I should apply the principles laid down in Re S, ————-

54. There are obvious differences between proceedings at an inquest and the criminal process, most notably that the task of the Coroner and jury is to determine the manner of the death of the deceased and does not extend to determining questions of criminal guilt. In various cases that has been held to be a matter of weight in respect of witnesses seeking to protect their own personal safety. However, in this case, the inquest to be held is into the killing of a child, L, in the situation where a High Court Judge has already found as a matter of fact that the mother was responsible for L’s death and the application is made because harm is indirectly apprehended to a child who is a stranger to the investigative process. It is presently uncertain whether criminal proceedings will in fact be taken against the mother. If so, and the Coroner is so informed, then no doubt he will further adjourn the matter pursuant to s.16. of the Coroners Act 1988. If that is done, then the question of publicity and reporting restrictions in those proceedings will fall four square within the principles propounded in Re S. If not, and if, as seems likely, the mother continues to pose a danger to any child in her care, then, if continued, the reporting restrictions in the care proceedings would prevent that fact from reaching the public domain, despite its clear public interest and importance.

 

  • He carried out a detailed balance between the competing rights emphasising the strength and importance of a public hearing of the inquest and so the general conclusion on what promotes the administration of justice in such proceedings. Having done so he refused the injunction sought that the parents should not be identified.
  • Here the important issue of child protection is absent.
  • In the note of counsel for some of the media Respondents dated 28 January 2016 points are made about the importance of a proviso permitting the reporting of other proceedings conducted in open court, including a coroner’s court. But after the Applicant sought this extension junior counsel responded (as mentioned in paragraph 49 above) that his clients are neutral on this point.
  • As the approach of Potter P confirms an application for restrictions on the reporting of other proceedings conducted in open court engages important and powerful interests against the making of such an order. However, in my view:

 

i) the expressed neutrality of some of the media Respondents reflects a responsible and understandable stance that in isolation the inquest is unlikely to give rise to issues of public interest or to any such issues in respect of which the general propositions in favour of naming C or her family will have any significant weight, andii) in any event, I consider that that is the position.

 

  • The essential question is therefore whether, unless the court makes a further order, C’s family should be at risk of publicity relating to the inquest that makes the connection between them and the COP proceedings and so effectively of suffering the harm and distress that any other reporting that identifies them and makes that link would bring.
  • The history of the prurient nature of some of the earlier reporting is a clear indicator that such reporting might be repeated. But, even if that risk is discounted I have concluded that the balance comes down firmly in favour of extending the order to cover the inquest.
  • The main factors to be taken into account overlap with those to be taken into account in respect of the duration of the order.
  • On the one side are:

 

i) the points set out in paragraph 167 (i) to (v) as the inquest is likely to take place before a is 18 andii) the points set out in paragraph 175.

 

  • On the other side are:

 

i) the powerful and weighty reasoning that underlies the conclusion and practice that the administration of justice is best served by inquests being heard in open court without reporting restrictions, andii) the general and accepted force of the naming propositions absent any evidence or reasoning that they found a need for reporting of the inquest that makes the link with the COP proceedings.

 

And the order therefore stops the Press naming the woman as a result of reporting on the Inquest – they can still report on the Inquest itself. It obviously doesn’t mean that the Inquest itself is barred from naming her.

 

The judgment also annexes some helpful procedural guidance on applications for Reporting Restriction Orders within the Court of Protection.

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In the Court of Protection no-one can hear you scream (about the Case Management Pilot)

Posted on March 3, 2016 by suesspiciousminds

 

Those who are about to headdesk, salute you Caesar.

Yes, given their rip-roaring success in public law Children Act cases and their tour-de-force in private law Children Act cases  – where they managed to introduce at exactly the same time as all the lawyers were taken out of the system a process so complex and convoluted that it creates a key hearing with a name that literally cannot be pronounced…

The Court of Protection are proud to announce their very own labryinthine set of rules and processes.

You’re welcome.

 

Oh, and joyfully, they’ve called them Pathways. Because absolutely every single thing that has ever been labelled a Pathway has been an unqualified success and we absolutely want to build on THAT particular reputation.

 

http://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/court-of-protection-draft-case-management-pilot-published#.VtiU-ObzOud

 

Would you like a little taste?  Well, obviously, they start off using very simple ideas and philosophies and plain English, because they’re bearing in mind that the Court of Protection is used by lay people who are there concerned about members of their family but don’t get free legal representation.

 

Plain English like:-

2.1 Where this pilot applies —
(a) Parts 1 to 5 and 13, and rules 84, 85 and 86 in Part 12 (but not the practice directions supplementing them), are disapplied;
(b) Pilot Parts 1- 5 as set out in Annex A to this Practice Direction (which contains modified versions of those Parts in a new arrangement) will apply in
their place, together with the practice directions supplementing the disapplied rules (renumbered as appropriate to supplement Pilot Parts 1-5); and
(c) rule 72(5) and (7) will not apply where a case is allocated to a case management pathway.

 

And thank heavens that’s all cleared up.

I would have provided you all with a simple overview of the Pilot, but I realised at page seven that the thudding noise in my ears was my brain forcibly trying to get out of my head so that it could stop reading this stuff.

 

By way of simple flowchart

  1. Were you thinking of entering into Court of Protection Work?    (If No, then YAY!  If Yes, then Reconsider)
  2. Are you already doing Court of Protection Work?  (If No, then high-five dude, you’re scott-free.  If Yes, then make a new plan Stan)

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