A woman with "severe" anorexia who wanted to be allowed to die is to be force fed in her "best interests" by order of a High Court judge.
Mr Justice Peter Jackson declared that the 32-year-old from Wales, who cannot be identified, did not have the capacity to make decisions for herself.
He made public his judgment on Friday after making the ruling last month.
But Glyn Davies, Conservative MP for Montgomeryshire, used Twitter to criticise the judge's ruling.
He tweeted: "Shocking that judge orders anorexic Welsh woman be force fed against her will.
"She should be allowed to die with dignity. Shameful decision".
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She does not seek death, but above all she does not want to eat or to be fed”
Mr Justice Peter Jackson Court of Protection
The case was brought by the woman's local authority, which also cannot be identified.
The court heard that the woman - known only as E - had altered her living will.
Initially, it said she wanted to die when the time came and she did not want to be revived.
Later, she said she wanted to live and wanted to make her own decisions about her future.
The judge, sitting in the Court of Protection, said it was a "a very difficult decision" for him to make because it required "a balance to be struck between the weight objectively to be given to life on one hand and to personal independence on the other".
Giving his reasons, the judge said that although she was "gravely unwell, she is not incurable".
He said: "She does not seek death, but above all she does not want to eat or to be fed.
anyone can be declared unfit it's a matter of how you represent it...
Not really. It would be rather hard to define someone as mentally unfit if they were an active, productive part of society. Hell, it's hard to define someone as mentally unfit when they're really, really sad (rather than depressed, which is different)
If someone is on the verge of death, doesn't want to die but believes her death is less important than her empty stomach- They need help. There's a fundamental contradiction there.
Rating an empty stomach more important than a life you value is a sign of irrationality to the point of malfunction.
To be sectioned (declared unfit and forcibly detained) you need 2 doctors to agree and there are very specific criteria about being a danger to yourself or others.
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Melanie
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows youre dead
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When they say "force fed", I get a very literal image of a frail woman being held down by force and someone feeding her a big mac the way you'd feed a pet a pill. Is the "force feeding" being administered through something like TPN?
Total Parenteral Nutrition would certainly keep her alive in order to seek help for the condition. If that's the case, I'm sure it would still be traumatic to her she gains weight, but not so severe. Although I suppose it could also be seen as a problem on the road to recovery, since she wouldn't be actually ingesting any food?
I find what the second judge, Mrs Justice King, had to say was very compassionate. People who want to die are going to find a way, it's impossible to stop them, but people who still want to live despite the trauma they may put their bodies through need support and intense medical care. Getting out of a suicidal or self harming state of mind is more difficult than getting off heroin.
In my line of work - we kind of tread this line between "right" and "rights" on a daily basis.... (I'm a support worker).
Personally, I do tend to move towards the 'personal choice' option.... However, there are some things that some of the people I support need, but truly wouldn't ever do or think of doing for themselves... We try to run a balance between their freedom of choices and what is actually in their best interests for continued well being and overall happiness.
The woman in question obviously needs some kind of serious help... and as she is (from what I can gather from the details) not willing to help herself, then it can only really be concluded that if this 'force feeding' is going to keep her alive and maybe allow her to receive treatment for her issues.... then really, the Judge has no other sensible choice aside from simply doing nothing and let her chances of survival diminish along with her physical health.
"I believe mental health is just as important as physical help, though, Parasite. Just bear that in mind...they probably go hand in hand."number1amyfan
I think I can safely say from previous personal experience that the use of the word "probably" in there is redundant.
I think it is best for her to be force fed. It may be scary for her, but anorexia is not the end of the world. It may be the end of her world if she doesn't get help though. Sad situation because this lady feels like she is losing her battle with every bite of food. The truth is, every bite is a step toward recovery. Sometimes circumstances call for one to be cruel to be kind.
Tell that to someone whose 20 something daughter died from heart failure, caused by the body's reaction to the effects of anorexia.
Pretty sure that their world sure as hell feels like it's ended (I have friends who have lost their children... very recently due to very different circumstances, but the effect of grief is no less painful)
I think you misunderstood that statement... What I mean by that is that it is possible to treat it. Of course it sucks, but it can be reversed. Did you also see that I said it could be the end of her world? I'm not ignorant. Anorexia could be the end of the world, but it doesn't HAVE to be.
"I think you misunderstood that statement... What I mean by that is that it is possible to treat it. Of course it sucks, but it can be reversed. Did you also see that I said it could be the end of her world? I'm not ignorant. Anorexia could be the end of the world, but it doesn't HAVE to be."
I see, sadly... it's an unfortunate issue that less than 20% of communication is non verbal... it's easy to misinterpret things when most of communication is not available (my line of work I see this issue A LOT)... The main drawback, like many other disorders which stem from psychology rather than physiology is getting the person in question to acknowledge there is an issue effecting them and that there will be consequences for it NOT to be treated.
One of our friends has only just got herself to the doctors (after much nagging for months from everyone around her) and there preliminary diagnosis revealed that she has got obsessive compulsive issues with "purging bad food" by going to the gym an UNHEALTHY amount of times a week and maintaining an insubstantial diet to 'keep the weight off' and needless guilt issues relating to simply eating enough to remain healthy.
