A Critical Look at the Court of Protection

Victoria Butler-Cole KC is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers who specialises in health and social care. Her work includes public law, community care, Court of Protection, medical treatment disputes involving babies and children, inquests, human rights claims, and regulatory appeals. She is the co-founder with Alex Ruck Keene of the 39 Essex Mental Capacity Report, and is recognised as one of the leading barristers in this field, having appearing in many of the leading cases. She has a particular interest in ethics and is a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and a member of the advisory group to the UK Pandemic Ethics Accelerator. She sits as a Recorder on the Western Circuit.

Abstract

This talk will take a critical look at medical treatment cases in the Court of Protection.  How and why do medical treatment decisions get brought before the court?  What purpose does the court serve in these cases?  Does the approach taken by the court bear any relation to standard medical decision-making? How and why are independent experts deployed? Are there cases that should be heard by the court which are not brought before it?  Do medical treatment decisions necessarily require determination at the level of the High Court?  A talk that is likely to pose more questions than answers, with the aim of stimulating discussion and debate.