Disabled man to sue NHS Trust over court order enforcing 3am removal from home
A disabled man says he plans to sue after a High Court judge gave medics permission to take him from home to hospital and authorised the use of force.
Aamir Mazhar, 25, who lives in Birmingham, says he aims to take legal action against health bosses who asked Mr Justice Mostyn to make the order – at an out-of-hours telephone hearing in the Family Division of the High Court.
He says the Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust breached his human rights and deprived him of his liberty.
Trust bosses dispute his claims. They say staff made an emergency application for a ruling by a judge because they were facing a critical situation.
Lawyers for the trust said a “care package” provided to Mr Mazhar at his home had “broken down”.
They said staff thought that Mr Mazhar was at risk of serious injury or death.
A lawyer representing Mr Mazhar, who has muscular dystrophy, outlined detail of his complaints at a preliminary analysis of the case before another judge at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
Barrister Chris Buttler told Mr Justice Keehan that Mr Mazhar had been provided with 24-hour care at his home.
He said Mr Mazhar was intelligent, university-educated and had the mental capacity to make decisions about where he lived and about his care.
Mr Buttler said that on April 22 trust bosses made a telephone application to Mr Justice Mostyn.
“The (trust) obtained an order authorising the use of reasonable and proportionate force to remove Mr Mazhar from his home, convey him to hospital and there deprive him of his liberty,” Mr Buttler told Mr Justice Keehan.
“Pursuant to Mr Justice Mostyn’s order, police and ambulance staff entered Mr Mazhar’s home at around 1am on 23 April 2016.
“Mr Mazhar was woken and it took two hours to wash and dress him and prepare his equipment.
“At around 3am he was driven to Birmingham Hospital.”
Mr Buttler added: “Mr Mazhar found the experience very upsetting.”
He told Mr Justice Keehan that Mr Mazhar, who lives with his mother Naheed Mazhar, claimed that his rights to liberty, a fair trial and respect for family life were breached – and wanted damages.
Lawyers for the trust said staff had acted in good faith because Mr Mazhar needed care and the situation was critical.
“It is vital to understand the context within which the application was made,” Jenni Richards QC, who headed the trust’s legal team, told Mr Justice Keehan.
“The emergency application was made, in good faith and in response to a critical situation, because the care package provided to Mr Mazhar at home had broken down; the trust was unable, despite its best endeavours, to find any staff to provide care for him; and the trust genuinely and reasonably considered that he was at risk of serious injury or death.”
She added: “Criticisms of the trust’s actions and position are misplaced.”
Solicitor Anne-Marie Irwin, who is representing Mr Mazhar and works for law firm Irwin Mitchell, said: “Aamir is an intelligent young man. He has severe muscular dystrophy and was being cared for at home.
“What Aamir and his family went through when he was woken by police and ambulance staff and removed from his home to hospital in the middle of the night has obviously been extremely traumatic for them. He was completely unaware that NHS managers had obtained a court order earlier that evening authorising the use of force to remove him from his home.
“He and his family believe this was completely unnecessary and breached his civil rights. They understandably want to find out exactly what led to the decision not only to remove him from his home, but to do it in the middle of the night.
“They want to ensure lessons are learned so he and other people will not find themselves in a similar traumatic situation, in the future.”
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