School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZR, UK.
Med Law Rev. 2022 Sep 6;30(3):544-554. doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fwac021.
In 2021, the Court of Protection made a third anticipatory declaration that it was lawful for a capacitous pregnant woman to be subject to possible forcible treatment contingent on her losing capacity before or during birth. North Middlesex University Hospital v SR raises three interesting questions for discussion which this commentary will explore. First, it is submitted that there is a growing, yet alarming, trend in the use of anticipatory or contingent declarations to manage such challenging cases of future loss of, or fluctuating, capacity in pregnant women. This trend now seems to have been widened by SR and could potentially capture any pregnant woman, rather than those in narrower, exceptional circumstances. Secondly, this commentary discusses the judge's justification of basing the issuing of anticipatory or contingent declarations on a 'real risk' P will lose capacity in the future, highlighting the potential problems with framing such controversial powers on 'risk'. Finally, it provides an exploration of the alternative option of utilising advance care plans to better deal with these types of matters, in the name of giving back the power to pregnant women to decide on what should happen to them in labour in the event that they do lose capacity before or during delivery.
2021 年，保护法院作出了第三次前瞻性宣告，规定有能力的孕妇有可能在分娩前或分娩期间丧失能力，从而接受可能的强制治疗是合法的。North Middlesex 大学医院诉 SR 案提出了三个有趣的讨论问题，本评论将探讨这些问题。首先，有人认为，在使用前瞻性或有条件的宣告来处理孕妇未来丧失或波动能力的这种具有挑战性的情况下，这种趋势正在不断增加，而且令人担忧。这种趋势现在似乎因 SR 案而扩大，可能会涵盖任何孕妇，而不仅仅是那些处于更狭窄、特殊情况下的孕妇。其次，本评论讨论了法官将发布前瞻性或有条件宣告的理由建立在“真实风险”P 将在未来丧失能力的基础上，强调了将这种有争议的权力建立在“风险”上的潜在问题。最后，它探讨了利用预先护理计划的替代方案，以更好地处理这类事项的可能性，其目的是赋予孕妇权力，以便在她们在分娩前或分娩期间丧失能力的情况下，决定在分娩时对她们自己的身体做些什么。
