Overview

• Mrs Justice Arbuthnot overturned a 2023 prohibition and ruled that nasogastric feeding can be used in Patricia’s best interests to avert imminent risk of death.
• Patricia, a 25-year-old autistic woman who has battled anorexia nervosa since age ten, now weighs under 22 kg and suffers from bedsores, osteoporosis and immobility.
• Her parents and aunt took Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, its integrated care board and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS trust to the Court of Protection in March.
• Every specialist eating-disorder unit in England has been contacted but none has offered a bed, highlighting fragmentation in the NHS care pathway.
• Her family is urging any consultant psychiatrist with an open slot to admit her immediately to prevent further deterioration.