The Court of Protection has found that receipt of a life-saving blood transfusion was in the best interests of a Jehovah's Witness who had made an advanced decision in 2001 not to receive such treatment. 

PW did not have the capacity to make the decision as to whether she should have the blood transfusion meaning an urgent application was made to the Court of Protection. The court decided that PW should have the transfusion mainly due to inconsistent actions since the creation of her advanced decision. An example of such an action is that PW subsequently appointed her children as her welfare lasting powers of attornies but they had not been informed of the decision to refuse a blood transfusion. The court used this information in a balancing exercise of what would be in her best interests. 

This case gives really good examples of what information the Court of Protection will use when making such best interests decisions and is a fascinating read. 

To read more about advanced decisions please click here. 

PW (Jehovah's Witness: Validity of Advance Decision), Re [2021] EWCOP 52