A veterinary nurse who was wrongly detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act and forced to undergo a caesarean operation against her will won the right to substantial damages in the Appeal Court yesterday.
Three judges ruled that her detention in hospital in London in April 1996 and the operation were unlawful, although sanctioned by a High Court judge.
The 30-year-old single mother was named only as MS to protect her daughter, now aged two. The decision also opens the way for up to a dozen other women to sue trusts for damages. The judges overturned a High Court declaration by Mrs Justice Hogg authorising the operation after an "extraordinary and unfortunate" hearing, during which the judge was wrongly told MS had been in labour for 24 hours when she had not. The judge was not told MS had contacted a solicitor but had not been informed of the hospital's application. Mrs Justice Hogg never asked if MS was mentally competent to refuse treatment, though the court has no jurisdiction to override the refusal of a competent adult.
MS said last night that "it's such a relief to have this mental health stigma taken away". She realised her decision could have endangered her and her two-year-old daughter but she believed in nature taking its course. She would tell her daughter about the case when she was older. "I very much hope she will grow up believing in freedom of choice as I do."
In a ruling that will surprise NHS managers and doctors, the judges held that court declarations made after an ex parte hearing - where only one side is heard - give no protection from being sued. Almost all the declarations since the first such case in 1993 have been ex parte.