Case studies

Emergency advice

Examples of our work in this area

We advised Imperial College Healthcare following an urgent telephone call about treating a one day old baby who had a serious infection which required urgent antibiotic treatment. However, the baby’s parents were refusing to allow antibiotics to begin with, placing the baby’s health at serious risk. Our work included:

  • Preparing and issuing the court application for an emergency treatment order;
  • Liaising with CAFCASS, who agreed to represent the child, to get an urgent hearing before a High Court judge and agreeing that a telephone hearing should be requested;
  • Preparing the clinicians for their discussion with the High Court judge, who telephoned them directly and then dealing with a misunderstanding over timing for administration of the antibiotics;
  • Obtaining the requested court order for emergency treatment and ensuring all parties, including the parents, were served with a copy of the order.

    This case was dealt with during one morning in July 2009 and ensured that urgent treatment was provided. The baby was discharged home to her parents' care several days after the order was obtained, in good health.

An HIV positive mother refused on religious grounds to let her newborn children have an emergency injection, required within hours of birth, to significantly reduce the chance of it becoming HIV positive. An Order from the High Court was required to allow the hospital to administer the drugs against the parents' wishes, but legally this could not be done until the baby was born. We received an emergency call at 6am telling us that the mother was in labour and the baby was due very soon. We managed to wake a High Court judge, get him to agree to an Order and get the sealed order faxed to the hospital by 9.30am, meaning that the baby received its life saving drugs in time.

Call us for emergency advice: 020 8780 4860

Depending on whether you phone in or out of office hours, you will either be routed directly to a specialised healthcare lawyer or, alternatively, an operator will take your contact details.

If you’re not a Capsticks client, contact us on 020 8780 2211 to register your interest in this service.