Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust v AB [2020] EWCOP 40

Declarations were made that the P, who suffered from anorexia nervosa, did not have capacity to make decisions about her treatment for the condition, nor was it in her best interests to receive any further treatment.

The 28 year old P had suffered from anorexia nervosa since the age of 13 and had been admitted for lengthy periods of treatment as an in-patient on 11 occasions. Despite this treatment, the P's weight had dropped to a dangerously low level and she was in danger of suffering a cardiac arrest and dying. There was only one treatment option available to the P given the significant deterioration in her health and that was to undergo forced nasogastric feeding through the insertion into her stomach of a tube through which liquid nutrients can be delivered. The NHS trust sought declarations that the P did not have capacity to make decisions about her treatment for the condition, nor was it in her best interests to receive any further treatment.

The court reached a clear conclusion that the P lacks capacity to decide whether or not she should be tube fed​; however, the court was entirely satisfied that it would not be in her best interests to undergo further treatment of this nature. 

Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii