Premium
M ental C apacity A ct, Anorexia Nervosa and the Choice Between Life‐Prolonging Treatment and Palliative Care: A NHS F oundation T rust v M s X
Author(s) -
Wang Daniel Wei L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2230.12147
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , anorexia , medicine , eating disorders , psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry
The C ourt of P rotection decided in A NHS F oundation T rust v M s X that an anorexia nervosa patient lacked the capacity to refuse treatment for her eating disorder, but that it was not in her best‐interests to be subject to force‐feeding to prolong her life. The C ourt, vindicating previous judgments in similar cases, considered that the eating disorder rendered the patient incapable of deciding on nutrition and, therefore, that she lacked the capacity to refuse treatment for anorexia nervosa. This paper questions the narrow way in which the patient's decision was characterised by the C ourt in this and previous cases, which led to an application of the M ental C apacity A ct 2005 that is incompatible with the UN C onvention on the R ights of P ersons with D isabilities because, based on a diagnosis only, anorexia nervosa patients were denied the right to decide where the balance lies between quality and duration of their own lives.