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Cloak & dagger in the Court of Protection?

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02 December 2022 / Laura Davidson
Issue: 8005 / Categories: Features , Court of Protection , Mental health
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102822
Closed proceedings & covert medication. In the first of a two-part series, Dr Laura Davidson asks if the Court of Protection has retreated to the realm of secrecy
  • In closed Court of Protection proceedings excluding her mother who was a party, the covert administration of hormone medication was authorised to a young woman.
  • The case raises multiple serious concerns, including around lack of disclosure and the right to family life.

There have been some extraordinary goings-on in the Court of Protection of late. In Re A (Covert Medication: Closed Proceedings), within the case A Council v A (by her litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) and others [2022] EWCOP 44, a single judgment was published containing Part One (following a closed hearing on 15 September 2022 to which B was not a party) and Part Two relating to an open hearing involving all parties from 20 to 22 September 2022. A prior judgment of Judge Moir was also published simultaneously (The Local Authority v A &

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