SE (Serious Medical Treatment) [2018] EWCOP 45

Application by the Trust for permission to amputate the P's leg was granted.

The application was made because the P's leg was seriously infected and without an amputation she would die. The first part of the judgment concerned how the Trust had managed the application process. Apparently, despite the size of the Trust, they did not have access to appropriate legal advice to be able to advise them as to the steps that should have been put in place on proper notice to the family. As a result they dealt with the matter by way of a safeguarding referral to the Local Authority and it was only at some point during that process they were alerted to the fact that actually the appropriate course was to issue an application to the Court of Protection.

The court granted the application and suggested that other Trusts may want to review their procedures and consider the helpful framework set out by the Trust as a result of this application.

​Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii