Futility and best interests before the Court of Protection – Mental Capacity Law and Policy
‘When medical treatment can be considered to be a futile is an important, but sometimes difficult, question. What can make it difficult in the context of those with impaired decision-making capacity is the potential for it to start “coding” judgments about other matters, above all judgments about the quality of life of the patient. In Re XY [2024 EWCOP 37 (T3), the issue of futility arose in the context of a decision whether continuing life-sustaining treatment was in the best interests of a man who in a prolonged disorder of consciousness. The treating Trust wished to cease mechanical ventilation and the provision of clinically assisted nutrition and hydration on the basis that its continuation was no longer in XY’s best interests.’
Mental Capacity Law and Policy, 28th July 2024
