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16 February 2012
Issue: 7501 / Categories: Case law , Law reports , In Court
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Human rights—Right to life—Mental health patient

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Rabone and another v Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust [2012] UKSC 2, [2012] All ER (D) 59 (Feb)

Supreme Court, Lord Walker, Lady Hale, Lord Brown, Lord Mance and Lord Dyson SCJJ, 8 Feb 2012

The operational obligation under Art 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) can be owed to a hospital patient who is mentally ill, but who is not detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MeHA 1983).

Jenni Richards QC and Nigel Poole (instructed by Pannone LLP) for the claimants. Monica Carss-Frisk QC and Jane Mulcahy (instructed by Hempsons) for the trust. Paul Bowen and Alison Pickup (instructed by Bindmans LLP) for the interveners.

In April 2005, M, the 24-year-old daughter of the claimants, committed suicide. At the time of the suicide, M was on two days’ home leave from hospital, where she was undergoing treatment for a depressive disorder as an informal patient. M had been admitted to the hospital as an emergency following a suicide attempt and was assessed

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