Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust v AB & Ors [2019] EWCOP 10

Application to prevent publication of a video of a patient, P, in her treating hospital. The application was granted.

The P was detained under section 3 of Mental Health Act. She suffers from a conversion disorder with comorbid acquired brain injury. At times she is catatonic and lies in a foetal position on the floor.  She has a history during these periods of self-harm, and for that reason she wears protective headgear at all times.  In the light of the P's condition and the difficulties in accommodating her appropriately, the Trust has had to adapt the room in which she has been living urgently, and the condition of the room therefore looks somewhat poor.  The P's son took a video of his mother and gave it to the Mail Online for them to publish. This application was to prevent the publication.

The court agreed that the video should not be published, even if the P's face was pixilated, since she would still be recognisable. The video would be an interference with the P's privacy and her private life.

Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii