Report No. 196

(25) Re SS (an adult: Medical Treatment) 2002(1) FLR 73: (Wall J.)

This case again related to termination of pregnancy. The patient was being treated in the psychiatric hospital.

Wall J held that problems with pregnant patients in psychiatric hospital are not unusual. The issue of the termination of pregnancies in such circumstances must arise frequently. He stated that it is essential that each hospital should have a protocol to deal with possible termination of such pregnancies, and that the protocol should be designed to address the issue in good time so that, wherever practicable, and in the interests of the patient, a termination can be carried out at the earliest opportunity.

Furthermore, any such protocol should ensure that the patient is referred, at an early stage, to obtain independent legal advice, whether from the Official Solicitor or the solicitor who, as in this case, appears to have represented her at the Mental Health Review Tribunal.