What are the practical implications of this case?
‘Do we need to make an application to the court or can we just get on and treat? It’s obviously in P’s best interests and everyone agrees — even the Official Solicitor and the family.’ If there was a poll among the Court of Protection Bar of the question we are most frequently asked (and most frequently late on a Friday evening) that one would win the prize. ‘Do we need a declaration?’ In An NHS Trust and others v Y (by his litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) and another [2019] UKSC 46, [2018] All ER (D) 167 (Jul), the issue was the withdrawal of clinically-assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) — leading inevitably to P’s death. Re Y marked the apogee of judicial debate on the discrete issue of the withdrawal of CANH and the position is now reasonably clear following judgment and the British Medical Association/Royal College of Physicians guidance. Although the obligation on hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups to bring an application in respect of other treatments where all parties are in agreement has evidently reduced, the threshold above which an application should be made has not been clearly defined in any case. University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust v J is an example of a case which clearly had to be brought to court, despite the agreement of all concerned that the treatment was in P’s best interests — it is a useful reminder that there are many such cases where an application must still be made.