Medical treatment cases: No carve out for ‘clinical decisions’ says Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Townsend v Epsom and St Helier provides that any decision about the medical treatment of a mentally incapacitated adult, including the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, must be taken in the patient’s best interests – and so clinicians are not allowed to make a unilateral decision to refuse to provide treatment without going to Court if there is a dispute. It is then for the Court, not the clinicians to determine best interests.
