Deprivation of liberty and covert medicines: practice implications

摘要

The UK Supreme Court's judgment in Cheshire West and Chester Council v P [2014] has had a huge impact on the promotion of human rights of vulnerable patients. The ruling emphasises the positive duty on the state and its organisations, such as the NHS, to have in place procedures that independently confirm that the human rights of vulnerable patients in hospitals and other care settings are being applied in the same way as for any other human being. The Supreme Court ensured that the state was obliged to verify independently the care arrangements of iulnerable incapable adults by introducing a more inclusive determination of an objective deprivation of liberty that has seen a tenfold increase in the use of the Mental Capacity Act2005 deprivation of liberty safeguards Health & Social Care Information Centre HSCIC, 2015).