Paramount Consideration in Wardship Application
The House considered a case involving the sterilisation of a girl just under 18, who suffered from mental disability.
Held: A court exercising wardship jurisdiction, when reaching a decision on an application to authorise an operation for sterilisation of the ward, was concerned with only one primary and paramount consideration, the welfare of the child: ‘There is no doubt that, in the exercise of its wardship jurisdiction the first and paramount consideration is the well being, welfare, or interest (each expression occasionally used, but each, for this purpose, synonymous) of the human being concerned.’
Judges:
Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone LC
Citations:
[1988] AC 199, [1987] 2 All ER 206, [1987] 2 WLR 1213, Gazette 13-May-1987
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland CA 9-Dec-1992
The official Solicitor appealed against a decision that doctors could withdraw medical treatment including artificial nutrition, from a patient in persistent vegetative state.
Held: The doctors sought permission to act in accordance with . .
Cited – In Re A (Minors) (Conjoined Twins: Medical Treatment); aka In re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) CA 22-Sep-2000
Twins were conjoined (Siamese). Medically, both could not survive, and one was dependent upon the vital organs of the other. Doctors applied for permission to separate the twins which would be followed by the inevitable death of one of them. The . .
Cited – F v West Berkshire Health Authority HL 17-Jul-1990
The parties considered the propriety of a sterilisation of a woman who was, through mental incapacity, unable to give her consent.
Held: The appeal succeeded, and the operation would be lawful if the doctor considered it to be in the best . .
Cited – In re T (a Minor) CA 24-Oct-1996
C was born with a liver defect. After a failed operation, the parents, both caring health professionals, decided not to put him through major surgery again. The local authority and doctors obtained an order to allow a potentially life saving liver . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Health, Children
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180670