Please save our anorexic daughter, family pleads with NHS

Telegraph

2 days ago

The family of one of Britain's sickest anorexia patients has issued a desperate appeal to the NHS to offer the 25-year-old a bed in an eating disorder unit.
Patricia, as she is known under a court order, weighs 22kg (3st 6 lbs) – the average weight of a seven-year-old – and has a body mass index of 9, making her among the most unwell eating disorder patients in the country.
On Thursday, her parents and aunt won a landmark legal battle overturning a court order that had blocked the NHS from treating her anorexia for 21 months.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot ruled that doctors must be permitted to provide life-saving treatment, including the option of force-feeding, which had been denied under an earlier court order.
This is the first time the Court of Protection has reversed a ruling to withhold eating disorder care.
'In danger of deteriorating'
On Saturday, her family issued a desperate appeal for the NHS to act on the judgment and help save her life.
They told The Telegraph said: 'We are incredibly grateful to the judge. Her ruling has removed the legal barriers that prevented Patricia from being admitted to a specialist unit for almost two years.
'But unless a consultant steps forward now to offer her a bed, she will still die. Patricia is back home, still dangerously underweight and in danger of deteriorating.
'Every suitable unit in the country has been contacted, but for months none has replied to say they have a bed.
'We know how fragmented the system is, but Patricia doesn't have time for NHS bureaucracy to fail her. If a bed isn't found in the next few days, it may be too late.
'We're not asking for special treatment – just for our brilliant, bright and loving daughter and niece to receive the same care as any other critically ill patient.
'Please, if you run an NHS unit for complex eating disorder cases that is autism-friendly and works collaboratively with patients, check your referral inbox.
'We need every consultant psychiatrist with an available bed to ask their team, 'can we help save this young woman's life?' Patricia can only survive if someone says yes.'
'Don't let bureaucracy cost Patricia her life'
Patricia's parents and aunt also issued a direct plea to the Health Secretary, who framed it as part of his war on red tape when he announced plans to scrap NHS England in March.
'Please, Mr Streeting, do not let bureaucracy cost Patricia her life,' they said. 'If a consultant with a bed does not see the referral in time, and she dies as a result, it would be a tragedy beyond words.'
The original 2023 judgment in Patricia's case, issued by the now-retired Mr Justice Moor, followed a decision by clinicians at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust that her anorexia was 'untreatable'.
The judge agreed, finding that although Patricia lacked the capacity to make treatment decisions, she had the 'autonomy' to refuse care.
He claimed she was 'days or even hours' from death and ruled that force-feeding was not in her best interests. She could, he said, be discharged for palliative care at home.
But Patricia, who has always insisted she wants to live, defied expectations.
She survived the next 18 months, but without access to eating disorder treatment, her condition worsened.
By March, she weighed just 19kg, with a BMI of 7.3 and was at 'immediate' risk of death.
Over eight hearing days between March and May, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot heard evidence from Patricia's parents, a psychologist, gastroenterologist and several psychiatrists — including Dr Ali Ibrahim, a consultant who gave a pro bono opinion in favour of compulsory treatment to restore Patricia to a healthy weight.
He acknowledged the trauma that force-feeding can cause, but cited outcomes showing patients often recover and later feel grateful for the care they had once resisted.
The family was represented pro bono by barrister Oliver Lewis, who worked for more than 150 hours on the case.
In court, he argued Patricia is so severely ill she 'cannot distinguish between broader wishes ['I want to live'] and the narrower ones regarding life-saving interventions ['I don't want NG feeding'].'
The submission from her parents and aunt included increasingly desperate WhatsApp messages they had received from Patricia pleading for help. On 28 February, she wrote to her aunt: 'I don't want to die… I want to walk up mountains. I want to swim in the sea. I want cuddles and kisses. I want to play and have fun.
'I'm so so scared. I'm terrified. Please help me more. WE [sic] haven't got much time to play with. I'll never walk if we don't sort things now.'
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust, where she is being monitored, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, which provides her mental health care, opposed the family's application.
Both argued that force-feeding would be futile, a position that appears to contradict NHS guidance that anorexia is not a terminal illness and should be treated.
The trusts can be named after The Telegraph successfully challenged court reporting restrictions twice. NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, which commissions Patricia's care, can also be identified.
In her judgment, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot ruled in favour of the parents' application, stating: 'I agreed with Mr Lewis when he said, echoing Dr Ibrahim's observation, that by 'respecting [Patricia's] autonomy, the court [in 2023] had permitted her anorexia to call the shots'.
The court found Patricia remained incapable of making treatment decisions, and that the previous ruling had failed to protect her welfare.