Woman who rejected breast cancer diagnosis may undergo surgery without her consent

A 66 year old woman with paranoid schizophrenia may be put under general anaesthetic and have surgery for breast cancer without her consent, a High Court judge has ruled.1

Mr Justice Keehan declared that the woman, referred to as JT, who denied that she had cancer, lacked the capacity to decide for herself whether to have the treatment.

He granted University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust “an order that it is lawful and in JT’s best interest to undergo surgical removal by wide local excision of ductal adenocarcinoma of her left breast under general anaesthetic.”

JT, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia …