Covert medication and the place of residence

Re A (Covert Medication: Residence) [2024] EWCA Civ 572

The Court of Appeal heard an appeal at the end of May 2024, in a case decided at first instance in the Court of Protection by Poole J only a few weeks earlier. The case involved a complex dilemma about whether A, a vulnerable woman who lacked capacity, should have hormone medication administered covertly. There had been a long and rather troubled history of litigation in this case since April 2018 when the Local Authority had been driven to issue proceedings in the Court of Protection as a result of persistent lack of cooperation by B, who was A's mother, with medical and social work professionals. The proceedings in respect of A's best interests had continued for six years. Their course could be charted in five substantial judgments, the last being the subject of the present appeal.