Pregnancy and the Mental Capacity Act

The Court of Protection has recently issued a judgment in the case of a 29 year old woman with treatment resistant paranoid schizophrenia living in the community subject to a Community Treatment Order of the Mental Health Act. The NHS Trusts had known about the pregnancy for over 4 months but only made an urgent application to the court on the due date of her pregnancy at 40 weeks requesting an urgent same day or next day hearing from the Court for a planned caesarean section.

The judge was critical of the failure of the Trusts to follow previous legal guidance (NHS Trust v FG [2014] EWCOP 30) which states applications to the Court should be no later than 4 weeks before the due date. The judge noted that: ‘...failure to do so is unfair to the patient and likely to be contrary to their best interests.’  The judge agreed to the planned caesarean section (this was delayed from the original date of application as circumstances changed).

Download the full judgment from: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2024/73.html

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Edge Training run training course on Pregnancy, Childbirth and the MCA. The next Event is on 26 November 2025.  If you would like to enquire about commissioning us for this training, please email admin@edgetraining.org.uk

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