C1Part 1Persons who lack capacity
Preliminary
4BF1Deprivation of liberty necessary for life-sustaining treatment etcF1Deprivation of liberty necessary for life-sustaining treatment or vital act
F11
If the following conditions are met, D is authorised to deprive P of his liberty while a decision as respects any relevant issue is sought from the court.
2
The first condition is that there is a question about whether D is authorised to deprive P of his liberty under section 4A.
3
The second condition is that the deprivation of liberty—
a
is wholly or partly for the purpose of—
i
giving P life-sustaining treatment, or
ii
doing any vital act, or
b
consists wholly or partly of—
i
giving P life-sustaining treatment, or
ii
doing any vital act.
4
The third condition is that the deprivation of liberty is necessary in order to—
a
give the life-sustaining treatment, or
b
do the vital act.
5
A vital act is any act which the person doing it reasonably believes to be necessary to prevent a serious deterioration in P's condition.
F11
If Conditions 1 to 4 are met, D is authorised to take steps which deprive P of liberty.
2
Condition 1 is that the steps—
a
are wholly or partly for the purpose of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act, or
b
consist wholly or partly of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act.
3
A vital act is any act which the person doing it reasonably believes to be necessary to prevent a serious deterioration in P’s condition.
4
Condition 2 is that the steps are necessary in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act.
5
Condition 3 is that D reasonably believes that P lacks capacity to consent to D taking the steps.
6
Condition 4 is that—
a
subsection (7) applies, or
b
there is an emergency.
7
This subsection applies if—
a
a decision relevant to whether D is authorised to deprive P of liberty is being sought from the court, or
b
a responsible body is carrying out functions under Schedule AA1 with a view to determining whether to authorise arrangements that give rise to a deprivation of P’s liberty.
8
In subsection (7) it does not matter—
b
whether the arrangements mentioned in paragraph (b) include those steps.
9
There is an emergency if D reasonably believes that—
a
there is an urgent need to take the steps mentioned in subsection (1) in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act, and
Pt. 1 applied (1.12.2017) by The Court of Protection Rules 2017 (S.I. 2017/1035), rules 23.3, 24.6(1)