Medical Treatment Decisions & Court of Protection Cases

Chambers has been a leading set for many years in cases of all types involving medical treatment and end of life cases, including withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, end of life decisions and religious objections to treatment. We act on behalf of NHS Trusts, patients, family members, individual medical professionals, and the Official Solicitor.

Significant cases include:

• Bell & Anor v The Tavistock And Portman NHS Foundation Trust [2020] EWHC 3274 (Admin). Challenge to the legality of transgender treatment for children
• Obtaining of a court order allowing the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to conduct analysis of blood samples taken from the victims of the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
• AM v DPP [2014] UKSC 14, SC: Leading decision of the Supreme Court on the right to die – whether a gravely disabled person who is unable to commit suicide without assistance is entitled to further guidance from the DPP as to whether doctors, carers and other professionals would be likely to be prosecuted were they to assist him to do so.
• R (Rose) v Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group [2014] EWHC 1182 (Admin) (15 April 2014) Challenge to CCG refusal to fund egg freezing by Crohn’s disease sufferer facing imminent bone marrow transplant and infertility.
• R (Pretty) v DPP [2002] 1 AC 800 HL: Pretty v UK (2002) 35 EHRR 1, ECHR: Right to die. Right to assistance in committing suicide / right to life / right to self-determination.