Thread by @petermbenglish

Thanks for alerting me to this, Brian!

https://twitter.com/deerbrian/status/1263840978370207747

1/13

I've written a lot about this issue previously (sadly on ganfyd.org, which is now defunct).

2/13

The background is that any "person" with parental responsibility (and legally a local authority is such a "person" for some children) can consent to medical treatment on behalf of a child. Until some time ago, only one such person's consent was required.
3/13

There was then a case where the parents objected over circumcision - a medically unnecessary procedure.
4/13

A court held that for such important matters, the consent of both/all persons with parental responsibility would be required, and if they did not agree, a court would have to decide, in the child's best interests.
5/13

At the height of concerns about MMR, two parents went to court because one wanted their child vaccinated and the other didn't.
6/13

The court decided that the child could be vaccinated BUT ruled that vaccination was a grave decision which, like circumcision, required the consent of all persons with parental responsibility or a court order.
7/13

Subsequent cases have agreed with this (but in each case have said that the child should, in their best interests, be vaccinated).
8/13

I commented at the most recent judgement (before this one) that the court had missed the opportunity to say that vaccination should no longer be considered a "grave" decision; and that the consent of a single person with parental responsibility should suffice.
9/13

This judgement , I think, does something like that. The judgement concludes:
bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/…
10/13

I'm don't think this goes quite as far as I'd suggested previously; but…
11/13

…but it does appear to mean that a local authority is now empowered to make a decision on the best interests a child about whether it should be vaccinated or not, without the need to involve the courts in future.
12/13

Caveat - I am NOT a lawyer, and I may very well have misunderstood this judgement.

I should be extremely grateful, legal Twitter, if you could let me know if I've misunderstood it (or got anything else wrong in the thread.
13/13/

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