Mother calls for 21-year-old daughter to be sterilised

A DECISION on whether a 21-year-old young mother with significant learning difficulties should be sterilised to prevent further pregnancies was adjourned at the High Court yesterday for expert evidence to be obtained.

The case involves an application by the mother of the woman — who is due to give birth to her second child today — for a declaration that the procedure would be lawful and in her daughter’s best interests.

She had hoped a judge at London’s Court of Protection would have been able to give a ruling yesterday to enable an NHS Trust to carry out the sterilisation at the same time as her daughter’s baby is delivered by caesarean section.

But Mr Justice Hedley was told expert evidence was not yet available for the court to make a determination in an application which raised “extremely serious and important” issues.

The issues to be decided in the case are whether the woman, who can only be referred to as P, lacks the capacity to make decisions about contraception and, if so, whether she should be sterilised by means of “tubal ligation”.

A preliminary hearing will take place in April, with the full hearing of the case expected in May.

Mr Justice Hedley said he shared the anxiety of P’s mother, about further delays “and losing this opportunity”, but the evidence on the issues of capacity and best interests was “incomplete”, meaning the court was unable to reach a decision on those matters yesterday.

During the proceedings the woman’s mother, Mrs P, addressed the judge and, breaking down in tears, told him: “From my point of view, I want the best for my daughter.”

She said P and her children were being kept together as a family unit, but added: “Obviously we can’t carry on supporting more and more children.”

Mrs P said that any future children would have to be removed by the local authority: “She doesn’t understand that she won’t ever see those children again because she says ‘I am their mummy’. She doesn’t understand they will get a new mummy.”

She told Mr Justice Hedley: “We need something done. She fell pregnant with her second child quite quickly and the thing that worries me is if something isn’t done she will be pregnant quite quickly again.”

The Court of Protection, which usually hears sensitive matters behind closed doors relating to the most vulnerable members of society, is hearing her case in open court because of the “legitimate public interest” in understanding the powers of the court — particularly in cases where applications for “serious medical treatments” are made involving patients who are unable to give their own consent.