X NHS Foundation Trust & Anor v Ms A [2021] EWCOP 17

Application for the P to be transferred to hospital for an elective caesarean section. The application was granted.

This application related to Ms A, a woman in her 30s, who was 38 weeks pregnant, and who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. At the time of this hearing, she was detained in Hospital A under section 3 MHA. She already had 2 children, both of whom were born at home. She wanted the same for this pregnancy. However, on 11 February 2021, Ms A had a scan which showed the baby was growing normally but the fetus was in the breech position and there were just 2 options: a vaginal breech birth or planned caesarean section in hospital.

The court concluded that Ms A lacked the capacity to conduct these proceedings, and to make decisions regarding the birth (mode of delivery) of her child, her obstetric care and post-operative management and, notwithstanding Ms A's lack of capacity, that it was lawful, as being in Ms A's best interests, for her to be transferred from Hospital A to the maternity unit at Hospital B for an elective caesarean section.

Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii