FamilyThe parents of a young woman who died during a legal battle with the NHS have won their appeal over a ruling their daughter could not make decisions over her care.
Sudiksha Thirumalesh, who had a rare mitochondrial disorder, had been involved in a court fight with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust over being moved to palliative care.
The 19-year-old had wanted to raise money for experimental treatment in Canada that she thought might help her rare genetic disorder.
Three judges, sitting at the Court of Protection, overturned the legal ruling Ms Thirumalesh lacked mental capacity to make decisions about her treatment.
An anonymity order in the case was lifted last September, enabling Ms Thirumalesh’s family to speak of their anger over the battle with the trust.
In a rare move because of important legal principles in the case, the Court of Appeal had granted Sudiksha’s parents’ permission to pursue a posthumous appeal against the original ruling.
In the latest hearing, Lady Justice King told the court Ms Thirumalesh was “presumed to have had the capacity to give or withhold her agreement to medical treatment, including palliative treatment, at all times leading up to her death”.
But the judge added she would make “no criticism of the judge who demonstrated the same care and compassion in this case as she did in every case she heard during her time as a High Court Judge”.
‘We were gagged, silenced’
Welcoming the judges’ ruling, Ms Thirumalesh’s parents Thirumalesh Chellamal Hemachandran and Revathi Malesh Thirumalesh said: “We are grateful to the Court of Appeal for an opportunity to challenge the frightening and unfair judgment made against Sudiksha even after her death, and for setting the law straight.
“A patient’s right to disagree with her doctors, not to relinquish hope, and still to have her decisions respected, will now be part of Sudiksha’s legacy.”
Ms Thirumalesh had a cardiac arrest and died on 12 September before the Court of Protection could hear her case, which was brought with support from the Christian Legal Centre.
Following the High Court’s ruling last year against them in the case, which went on for more than a year, her family had said: “We are deeply disturbed by how we have been treated by the hospital trust and the courts.
“We were gagged, silenced and prevented from accessing specialist treatment abroad.”
They added that Ms Thirumalesh might still have been alive and recovering had she been allowed to seek treatment.
