ABSTRACT
Mr CP was a 91-year-old man living alone. He had early dementia but coped at home with assistance. His friends alerted the County Council (CC) to concerns that he was vulnerable to financial exploitation. The court found that ‘it is by no means clear that CP lacked capacity at this time’. When the first Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) authorisation was eventually put in place 2 months later, restrictions on Mr CP's contact with his friends, and his attendance at church, were imposed. Despite an independent best interests assessor's conclusion that CP had capacity and should be allowed to go home, the same social worker continued to find that he lacked capacity over the ensuing 9 months. During this period, the DOLS authorisation expired in October 2013, again rendering his detention unlawful. The DOLS mechanism protects patients from having their rights abused.
