This is Mostyn J’s decision (see the two Untimely Ripped posts, and most of the press since Sunday if you don’t know the background)
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/judgments/2013/re-aa-approved-judgement
I think the note from Mostyn J is important to read
NOTE BY MR JUSTICE MOSTYN (4 December 2013)
Although no-one has sought to appeal the judgment dated 23 August 2012 during the last 15 months, or to have it transcribed for any other purpose, I have decided to authorise its release together with
the verbatim transcript of the proceedings and the order made so as to inform and clarify recent public comments about this case.
It will be seen that the application to me was not made by the local authority or social workers.
Rather, it was an urgent application first made at 16:16 on 23 August 2012 by the NHS Trust, supported by the clear evidence of a consultant obstetrician and the patient’s
own treating consultant psychiatrist, seeking a declaration and order that it would be in the medical best interests of this seriously mentally ill and incapacitated patient, who had undergone
two previous elective caesarean sections, to have this birth, the due date of which was imminent (she was 39 weeks pregnant), in the same manner.
The patient was represented by the Official Solicitor who instructed a Queen’s Counsel on her behalf. He did not seek an adjournment and did not oppose the application, agreeing that the
proposed delivery by caesarean section was in the best interests of the patient herself who risked uterine rupture with a natural vaginal birth. I agreed that the medical evidence was clear and,
applying binding authority from the Court of Appeal concerning cases of this nature, as well as the express terms of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, made the orders and declarations that were sought.
Although I emphasised that the Court of Protection had no jurisdiction over the unborn baby, I offered advice to the local authority (which were not a party to or represented in the proceedings, or
present at the hearing) that it would be heavy-handed to invite the police to take the baby following the birth using powers under section 46 of the Children Act 1989. Instead, following the birth there
should be an application for an interim care order at the hearing of which the incapacitated mother could be represented by her litigation friend, the Official Solicitor
Okay, there’s quite a lot in that, so let’s break it down :-
1. The application for the Court to rule that the surgeons could undertake a C-section was made by the health authority, not by social workers
2. Social workers weren’t a party to the proceedings or represented
3. The mother was represented through the Official Solicitor and by Queen’s Counsel
4. The Court heard evidence that the mother was seriously mentally unwell and incapacitated (not quite Brooker’s “panic attack”)
5. The decision about the C-section was on the basis of very clear medical evidence that it would prevent a uterine rupture
6. Mostyn J gave advice to be communicated to the local authority social workers, that any decision about removal of the baby should take place at a Court hearing with the mother represented through the Official Solicitor
rather than the police exercising their powers to remove for a period of 72 hours and place the baby in the care of social workers
7. The decision about the C-section was made lawfully, taking the statutory matters into account and following the clear principles already established in English law (i.e there isn’t anything dramatically new about what happened here, in relation to the Court of Protection decision)
Now, there is still a public debate here about point 3, and I am sure that John Hemming MP would still wish to have it. Although the mother was represented through the Official Solicitor and had a very very experienced and senior barrister representing her; as the mother did not have capacity to instruct a solicitor and tell them what she thought about the operation, the Official Solicitor did not oppose the application. (I know that Mr Hemming MP taes the view that this procedure is unfair for vulnerable people and there is a disconnection between the mother and those who are purportedly representing her. It is a tricky one, and worthy of further debate. However, what was done here is the usual process with a person lacking capacity – even slightly more so, given that Queen’s Counsel was instructed.
What there ISN’T here, is the smoking gun that the Sunday Telegraph and others following in their wake were hinting at (or indeed expressly saying) that the C-section had been done at the behest of social workers to facilitate an easier time of removing the child into care. Let’s see if the Press correct that.
There is STILL a genuine debate to be had about the circumstances in which the child was removed – but the Local Authority made an application to the Court (as Mostyn J had advised) and it seems very likely that the mother was represented through the Official Solicitor for that hearing (they already being seized of the situation). Let’s wait and see what that judgment says – of the three judgments, that is probably the pivotal one, since it will illuminate whether the evidence and the risks involved really required this baby to be removed whilst mother was unconscious and recovering from her operation.
(I may come back to the judgment, but wanted to get it up so that people could read it for themselves)
suesspiciousminds 