Disabled woman’s relatives await ruling in medical equipment ‘tampering’ trial

The woman’s parents and grandmother deny allegations of ‘interfering during her medical care’.

A judge in the specialist Court of Protection has been asked to make findings (Jeff Moore/PA) (PA Wire)

The parents and grandmother of a severely disabled woman are waiting for a judge’s ruling after denying allegations they tampered with medical equipment.

Healthcare bosses said the three family members messed with tubes and equipment settings and put the woman – who is aged in her late 20s, has a rare degenerative neurological condition and lives in a specialist unit – at risk by “interfering during her medical care”.

Lawyers representing an integrated care board with responsibilities for the woman’s treatment have asked a judge in the specialist Court of Protection to make findings.

Mr Justice Hayden has suggested that the litigation is unusual and told lawyers: “In 10 years, I have never had to try a case like this in the Court of Protection.”

The parents and grandmother dispute the allegations and have accused staff at the unit of “failing to care” for the woman “properly”.

They say there is “no direct evidence” to support the allegations.

The woman’s father says witnesses have been forced to “retrospectively fit” explanations to what evidence there is.

Her mother says most of the allegations are “broadly pleaded, unparticularised and without supporting evidence”.

Mr Justice Hayden has finished overseeing a trial in the Court of Protection, where judges analyse issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves, at the Royal Courts of Justice complex in London.

He says he aims to deliver a ruling in the near future.

The judge has ruled that neither the woman, the unit where she is being treated, nor the care board involved can be identified in media reports.

Mr Justice Hayden was told the woman’s father made “covert recordings” without the knowledge of staff at the unit.

Lawyers said more than “24 hours’ worth of covert recordings” had been disclosed by the woman’s father.

Last year, Mr Justice Hayden bound the parents and grandmother to the terms of a “behavioural framework” after bosses at a hospital where the woman was previously treated raised concerns about clinical staff being spoken to in an “intimidating way”.

Mr Justice Hayden said, in a ruling published in June 2022, the order was aimed at putting in place “clear boundaries” to “manage the family’s behaviour”.

The order he made relating to the woman’s grandmother was later lifted after she appealed.