Appeals from personal welfare decisions – the Court of Appeal allocates the costs – Mental Capacity Law and Policy
‘In Re VA (Medical Treatment) [2023] EWCA Civ 1190, the Court of Appeal considered an appeal by a litigant in person (on her behalf, and on behalf of other family members) from a decision[1] of Hayden J relating to her mother, a 78 year old woman identified as VA. Hayden J had declared that VA lacked capacity to conduct proceedings or consent to medical treatment including extubation and associated treatment and care. The order further provided that, pursuant to s.16 MCA 2005, it was in VA’s best interests, and the court consented on her behalf, to undergo extubation and the provision of palliative care in accordance with a care and treatment plan prepared by the treating team at the hospital where she was being looked after. The order was made some seven weeks after Morgan J endorsed a consent order that a tracheostomy and insertion of a PEG was in VA’s best interests, but in circumstances where very shortly afterwards the woman’s daughter, VK, sought to challenge the position.’
Mental Capacity Law and Policy, 15th October 2023
