Your browser is out of date or unsupported. As a result, some elements of this website may not be fully functional. For the best possible user experience, it is recommended that you use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.
TV Edwards Solicitors Logo
Call us on: 020 3440 8000
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Awards and Accreditations
    • Corporate and Social Responsibility
    • Cybercrime and Fraud Warning
    • Make a Secure Payment
    • Our London Offices
    • Pricing
    • What Our Clients Say
    • Case Studies
  • Services
    • You & Your Family You & Your Family
      • Community Care Solicitors
      • Court Of Protection Solicitors
      • Criminal Defence Solicitors
      • Dispute Resolution Solicitors
      • Family Law
      • Personal Injury Claims
      • Wills And Probate Solicitors
    • You & Your Property You & Your Property
      • Housing Solicitors
      • Property Disputes
      • Residential Property
    • You & Your Business You & Your Business
      • Alcohol & Entertainment Licensing
      • Business Crime Solicitors
      • Commercial Litigation for Complex Cases
      • Commercial Property Solicitors
    • _
  • Our People
    • Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing
    • Community Care
    • Court of Protection
    • Criminal Defence
    • Dispute Resolution
    • Family Law
    • Housing
    • Partners and Management Team
    • Personal Injury
    • Property
    • Wills and Probate
  • News and Blogs
  • Careers
TV Edwards Solicitors Logo
  • Welcome to TV Edwards Solicitors
  • You & Your Family
    • Family and Children Law
    • Wills And Probate Solicitors
    • Personal Injury Claims
    • Dispute Resolution Solicitors
    • Mental Health Solicitors
    • Court Of Protection Solicitors
    • Community Care Solicitors
    • Criminal Defence Solicitors
  • You & Your Property
    • Residential Property
    • Property Disputes
    • Housing Solicitors
  • You & Your Business
    • Commercial Property Solicitors
    • Commercial Litigation for Complex Cases
    • Business Crime Solicitors
    • Alcohol & Entertainment Licensing
  • About Us
    • Our London Offices
    • What Our Clients Say
    • Pricing
    • Make a Secure Payment
    • Awards and Accreditations
    • Case Studies
  • Our People
    • Community Care
    • Court of Protection
    • Criminal Defence
    • Dispute Resolution
    • Family Law
    • Housing
    • Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing
    • Mental Health
    • Partners and Management Team
    • Personal Injury
    • Wills and Probate
    • Property
    • Support Team
  • News and Blogs
  • Careers
Call us on: 020 3440 8000
×
  • Divorce Solicitors
    • Divorce process
    • Finances
    • Civil partnerships
    • Child arrangements
  • Child Law Solicitors
    • Child arrangements
    • Social services
    • Adoption Solicitors
    • Special guardianship
    • Child Relocation Solicitors
    • Child Abduction Solicitors
  • Modern Parenting
    • Surrogacy
    • Fertility
    • Donor conception
    • Co-parenting
    • Adoption Solicitors
  • Unmarried couples
    • Pre nups, post nups and pre partnership agreements
    • Cohabitation agreements
    • Separation
    • Finances for children
  • Domestic abuse
    • Domestic abuse
    • Forced marriage
    • FGM
×

Start typing to search.

    ×
    TV Edwards Solicitors Logo

    020 3440 8000

    enquiries@tvedwards.com

    Our Offices

    TV Edwards Solicitors Logo

    020 3440 8000

    enquiries@tvedwards.com

    Our Offices

    Contact Us

    Please enter your first name(s).
    Please enter your surname.
    Please enter a valid email address.
    Please enter your contact number.
    Please select an option.
    Please enter a message.

    We’ll only use this information to handle your enquiry and we won’t share it with any third parties. For more details see our Privacy Policy.

    TV EDWARDS SOLICITORS LLP

    Court orders dying woman to be reunited with her family

    The Court of Protection ordered that an elderly woman (‘AO’) with terminal cancer should be allowed to leave a care...

    default

    Back to News & Blogs 5th May 2020

    Monica Kreel
    Monica Kreel
    Associate Solicitor

    News

    The Court of Protection ordered that an elderly woman (‘AO’) with terminal cancer should be allowed to leave a care home to live with her daughter for the last weeks of her life. The care home was not allowing any visitors, except for a single, short, end of life visit to “say goodbye”, due to the government guidance issued for care homes under the coronavirus emergency.

    AO had a large and loving family that lived about an hour away. Her daughter, VE, applied to the Court of Protection because she wanted her mother to live with her. She feared that her mother would die alone and afraid in the care home. AO, who was originally from Nigeria, spoke very little English and found it difficult to communicate with her carers.  The Royal Borough of Greenwich – the local authority funding AO’s care – opposed the application to Court and wanted AO to stay in the care home for her own safety, despite concerns expressed by the family that she could contract coronavirus in the care home which could further shorten her life.

    Greenwich had placed AO in the care home in 2010. Although the Court of Protection, in 2010, had approved the decision to place her there, Greenwich provided no evidence in the recent case that they had reviewed AO’s mental capacity or her placement in the intervening ten years. Such placements should be reviewed, under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, at least every year.

    AO’s daughter, VE, refused to allow her mother to return to the care home after she had visited the family home over Christmas, when she noticed that AO had a very large swelling in her abdomen. AO’s daughter arranged for her to be seen by a GP and then a specialist. She was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. A dispute arose between Greenwich and AO’s daughter about whether AO should return to the care home or be allowed to spend her final weeks with her daughter. She was returned to the care home, following an initial hearing in the Court of Protection, before the case was transferred to be heard before a High Court Judge.

    The Court of Protection makes decisions for people who have been found to lack mental capacity to make decisions for themselves. Despite the current lockdown, the Court of Protection is still having to make difficult and urgent decisions. It is mainly operating through remote hearings.

    The final hearing of AO’s case was before a High Court Judge over Zoom on 20 April 2020. The Judge made an order that AO should be allowed to leave the care home immediately. Her family, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went to pick her up and take her home as soon as the hearing finished.

    In her written judgment following the hearing, Mrs Justice Lieven said: “The ability to die with one’s family and loved ones seems to me to be one of the most fundamental parts of any right to private or family life…it would seem to me self-evident that such a decision by the state that prevents someone with a terminal disease from living with their family, must require a particularly high degree of justification under article 8(2) [of the European Convention on Human Rights].”

    Two days after returning to her family AO died surrounded by her daughter and grandchildren.

    VE, AO’s daughter, said: “Although I am very distressed at the loss of my mother, it gives me some comfort to know that she could see the family at the end of her life. She was surrounded by our love when she died. I should not have had to fight so hard for this basic human right”

    Monica Kreel, the solicitor for VE, said: “Residents of care homes and their families are dealing with traumatic circumstances under the current coronavirus emergency. Visits to care homes have been stopped at a time when residents are very anxious and need support from their families to stay safe. For each and every care home resident, it is vitally important that their human rights, including their right to have adequate family contact, are upheld. This is particularly important for residents at the end of their lives. If face-to-face contact is stopped, it should be justified in each case.”  

    NOTE TO EDITORS:

    1. VE, the applicant in the case is represented by solicitor Monica Kreel of TV Edwards LLP (0203 440 8173 or monica.kreel@tvedwards.com) and by barrister Alev Giz of 1GC Family Law .

    2. Under an injunction from the Court of Protection, the identity of AO, VE or other family members, or any information that would lead to their identities being known, must not be disclosed.

    3. Guidance issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 2 April 2020 asked care homes to accept patients discharged from hospital to free up hospital beds as quickly as possible. It stated that a negative test result for coronavirus was not required prior to the discharge of a patient into a care home. The same guidance states that family and friends should be advised not to visit care homes, except “next of kin in exceptional situations such as end of life”. The care home in this case made it clear that they would allow only one family member to have one short visit close to the point of death.

    4. Government guidance of 19 March 2020 for care homes stated that “new PPE must be used for each episode of care.” However, care homes are reporting that they do not have adequate PPE to ensure that this happens.

    5. Between 10 April and 24 April, the Care Quality Commission recorded 4,343 deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes in England.

    5 May 2020

    Related Services:

    Court Of Protection Solicitors

    Recent Articles

    Article Image

    Welcoming to Sheena Vadher

    14th May 2025
    Article Image

    Art as a Matrimonial Asset in Divorce Proceedings

    12th May 2025
    Article Image

    EPC changes and what they mean for Landlords

    6th May 2025
    Article Image

    Freezing Injunctions in the UK: When and How to Secure One

    7th April 2025
    Article Image

    TV Edwards LLP Strengthens Leadership with Six New Member Partners

    2nd April 2025
    Article Image

    Bitcoin and NFTs have complicated asset division on divorce

    1st April 2025
    All Articles 

    Contact Us

    020 3440 8000|enquiries@tvedwards.com|Our Offices

    020 3440 8000
    enquiries@tvedwards.com
    Our Offices
    Contact Us

    The Legal 500 2025 Leading Firm
    Chambers 2025 Top Ranked
    The Sunday Times best place to work 2024 logo
    The Times Best Law Firms 2025
    Cyber Essentials Accreditation Logo
    Lexcel Logo
    Lexcel Logo

    © 2025 TV Edwards LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (465533) and is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales number OC325696. Details of the SRA Code of Conduct can be found at sra.org.uk. Registered name: TV Edwards LLP. Registered Office: 35-37 Mile End Road, London, E1 4TP.

    TV Edwards Solicitors Logo

    Contact Us

    Call us on: 020 3440 8000

    Our Offices


    • Quick Links
      • Pricing
      • Pay Online
      • Careers with TV Edwards
    • Insights
      • Blogs
      • Case Studies
    • Regulatory
      • Legal Disclaimer
      • Terms of Business
      • Accessibility
      • Privacy Policy – Website Users
      • Privacy Policy – General
      • Cookies
      • Complaints Procedure

    Find us on:


    TV Edwards Solicitors Logo
    © 2022 TV Edwards LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (465533) and is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales number OC325696. Details of the SRA Code of Conduct can be found at sra.org.uk. Registered name: TV Edwards LLP. Registered Office: 35-37 Mile End Road, London, E1 4TP.
    Use of Cookies

    Our website requires the use of cookies. Enabling all cookies makes sure the website works as smoothly as possible, and also helps us to improve it. Some cookies are activated by default but tracking cookies aren't switched on without your consent.

    For our full policy, visit our cookies page.


    Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

    Necessary

    Necessary cookies enable core functionality of the website, including security, SRA Regulationand reCAPTCHA form verifications. It is possible to disable these cookies in your browser settings, but this could affect the functionality of the website.


    Recommended
    Off On

    Recommended cookies improve your experience of our site by helping to display our latest client reviews and embedded maps of our office locations. You can find full details on Google's privacy policy here.


    Analytics
    Off On

    We'd like to use analytics services provided by Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and Ruler Analytics to collect anonymous information from our visitors. The data we collect will help us to improve our website and services. Learn more about how we use these services and our commitment to safeguarding data in our Cookie Policy.

    Settings Save & Close
    020 3440 8000