A woman in her 50s who has mental and physical health problems can refuse to be resuscitated if she has a cardiac arrest, a judge has ruled.
Mr Justice Hayden had analysed the case at a recent hearing in London at the Court of Protection, where judges consider issues relating to people who may lack the mental capacity to make their own decisions.
He has ruled that she is mentally capable of making her own decisions about treatment.
The woman told Mr Justice Hayden that a serious physical illness put her at regular risk of having a cardiac arrest.
She said she was “sick” of the treatment she had to have and did not want to be resuscitated if she had a cardiac arrest.
Hospital bosses had asked the judge for rulings relating to the woman’s mental capacity.
The judge, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court – at the Royal Courts of Justice complex – oversaw a public hearing but said the woman could not be identified in media reports of the case.
He also said journalists could give no indication of where in England she lived.
The woman told Mr Justice Hayden about the day-to-day difficulties she faced and said she was in pain.
(The woman) does not want to die, but she does not want to live under a medical and mental health regime which she finds oppressive and corrosive of her autonomy
She told the judge that she did not want to be a “wuss” but said she had no “quality” of life.
“(The woman) does not want to die, but she does not want to live under a medical and mental health regime which she finds oppressive and corrosive of her autonomy,” said Mr Justice Hayden in a written ruling published online.
“As she puts it, she is simply ‘sick of it’.
“On paper, that regime may not appear rigorous but for (her), it undoubtedly is.”
He said her decision may be “objectively unwise” but added: “It is hers and not mine. I must respect her autonomy.”
In 2015, a judge ruled that a 50-year woman who refused life-saving kidney treatment after saying she had lost her “sparkle” and did not want to grow old, had the mental capacity to refuse treatment.
The woman died shortly after Mr Justice MacDonald made the ruling at a Court of Protection hearing in London.
