A family has hit out at a court’s decision which has given a 24-year-old woman with anorexia the to decide if she should be given life-saving care.
The judge ruled that Patricia should have the freedom to decide whether she continues treatment – despite her family claiming she is too sick to make decisions about her care.
The 24-year-old signed an advanced directive refusing life-saving care last year. An NHS trust treating her asked the Court of Protection if her wishes should be followed.
Patricia’s family told The Telegraph that they are ‘absolutely appalled’ by the decision.
They added that the judge has ‘sentenced someone who desperately wants to live to what we fear will be a hideous death’.
NHS trust treating her asked the Court of Protection (pictured) if her wishes should be followed
Patricia is thought to have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of between eight and 10. According to the NHS, the healthy range for a BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, meaning anything below 18.5 is considered underweight.
Patricia, who is ‘days or even hours’ from death, is able to leave the hospital to receive palliative care at home. But her family has been ‘begging’ eating disorder units to take her in.
The outlet reported that at an initial hearing in May, Mr Justice Moor said ‘Patricia, at present, lacks capacity to take decisions as to her medical treatment’.
Whilst Patricia’s condition has deteriorated – so much so that she was taken to hospital in an ambulance last Friday – medical professionals have told the family that they were still ‘confident the damage could be reversed’.
She was asked to discharged on Monday, and the case was brought before Mr Justice Moor again.
Mr Moor, who said that the case was ‘sad and tragic’, declared that it was in Patricia’s ‘best interests’ not to receive tube feeding and any other medical treatment which went against her wishes.
He said: ‘Of course it would be wonderful if she was prepared to accept treatment and was able to get better. But I am a realist.’
But a relative told the outlet that Patricia was ‘changing her mind every five minutes’ and that she was saying the opposite to what the judge had said.
‘While the judge was telling the court he was ‘absolutely clear’ Patricia would agree with him that she should be able to refuse tube-feeding by restraint, Patricia herself was telling her family the exact opposite – that she wanted to be sedated and tube fed, she just couldn’t cope with being fully aware while it was happening,’ they said.
Her family are worried that this judgment will make it harder for Patricia to seek hep again.
The paper also reported that Patricia was the sixth eating disorder patient since 2020 who has been allowed to choose death over treatment.
Whilst Patricia’s condition has deteriorated, medical professionals have told the family that they were still ‘confident the damage could be reversed’
A freedom of information request by The Telegraph found that dozens of eating disorder patients under NHS care have similar directives to refuse life-saving care.
Experts have warned that the number of teenage girls diagnosed with eating disorders has soared by as much as 42 per cent since the start of the Covid pandemic.
Experts also sounded the alarm over an increase in rates of self-harm among teenage girls.
With more girls diagnosed in wealthier neighbourhoods, eating disorder experts also said there could be a ‘postcode lottery of care’, with those in more deprived communities unable to access the support they need.
The researchers from the University of Manchester, Keele University, University of Exeter and mental health research charity The McPin Foundation found that since March 2020, when the pandemic hit, diagnoses of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia were 42 per cent higher than would be expected among teenage girls aged 13-16, and 32 per cent higher for those aged 17-19.
In August, the Mail on Sunday heard from patients who say they were told they are ‘too far gone‘ for treatment, with some referred to palliative care.
Hope Virgo, an eating disorder campaigner and former patient, said: ‘I’ve been contacted by people who say they are discharged because they’re too sick or not recovering fast enough, and being told there’s nothing more that can be done.
‘It’s heartbreaking. Some have been referred to palliative care. We don’t give up on patients with physical illnesses, we find different treatment methods which work for them. And yet, with eating disorders, it’s still a case of one-size-fits-all. Why aren’t we setting people up to have a chance of recovery? Instead, if treatment doesn’t work, services are washing their hands of them.
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com
