ABSTRACT
All clinicians are well aware that patients must not be tricked or cheated into receiving treatment that they would otherwise refuse to undergo. The case of Anne, a young woman with autism and a severe learning disability, was recently heard in court. She lacked capacity to make decisions about her medical treatment. Since her menarche, she had suffered very severe distress at the sight of her own menstrual bleeding. The hospital trust looking after Anne thus sought a declaration that removal of her uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries would be in her best interests. Anticipating that Anne would refuse to travel to hospital, the Trust proposed giving her a sedative. The judge found that deceiving her into accepting sedation would facilitate transport, anaesthesia and surgery, minimising the impact that this sequence of events would have upon her. In declaring the proposed plan to be in her best interests, he found that ‘the means is completely justified by the end’.
