ABSTRACT
D was a 22-year-old Lance Corporal in the British Army, serving three tours in Afghanistan before he was assaulted by a member of his regiment in a bar. He suffered a diffuse axonal injury to his brain, with haematomas surrounding and between and inside the cerebral lobes. His mother had identified stem cell therapy as a possible option for treatment of his brain injury. D had expressed a strong desire to receive this, but lacked the capacity to pursue it alone. The Ministry of Defence and the Official Solicitor presented the proposed treatment in Belgrade as ‘unproven and risky’. The court found that ‘it was almost certain’ that D would be much more miserable if he was denied the therapy. It reached a clear conclusion that provisional consent should be given to D to travel to Belgrade for treatment.
