Page values for "Re AB (2016) EWCOP 66"

Re AB [2016] EWCOP 66

Treatment on basis of active deception

"I am asked to, and I do approve, a treatment regime for AB, which involves the administration of medication to her on a basis of deception. Not merely passive deception, which, to use a legal phrase might be characterised as suppressio veri, but active deception, which lawyers might describe as suggestio falsi. It is debateable whether there is in fact much moral difference between the two types of deception, but what is being proposed here is a treatment regime, an administration of medication, on the basis of active deception of AB. I only have to state this for the unusual nature of the case to be revealed, but the circumstances in which these facts arise demonstrate that such a course is manifestly required in the best interests of AB, notwithstanding that her personal wishes and feelings would be entirely contrary to the course that is going to ensue. AB is infected with HIV. ... The order will provide, however, that if the truth emerges to AB and she moves to a position of active resistance then the matter will have to be reviewed, and the Court will have to consider, in that situation, whether to move to forced administration of these drugs, which would be a very difficult decision to make, because it would not be a one-off administration of treatment, but would be a quotidian administration of treatment, which is a very different state of affairs to that which is normally encountered in this Court."