Client with no family passes with company from our Court of Protection team

Here at Wilkin Chapman, we are committed to helping our clients with their end-of-life wishes, ensuring their requests are fulfilled right to the very end.

A recent example of this involved an elderly lady, who was never married and had no relatives to support her during her last living hours.

Most staff within a care home would want to give one-on-one time to someone who is dying, to ensure they don’t die alone. However, with other people to support, ensuring constant companionship can often be challenging. This could have resulted in our client passing away alone.

Fortunately, a colleague in our Court of Protection team had previously been appointed as a professional health and welfare attorney for her. When our partners or members of the Court of Protection team are appointed as health and welfare attorneys, this enables them to support our clients in any way they desire once they have lost capacity. 

This client made it clear when she had capacity that she did not want to die alone. With their authority under the Lasting Power of Attorney, our colleagues ensured that she had someone with her throughout this sensitive time. A dedicated member of the Court of Protection team was able to sit with her in her final hours to ensure a peaceful, supported passing.

Chantal Ul Haq-Weedon, head of Court of Protection, stated that “it was a privilege to get to know our client on a personal level, but even more so to know that we have supported her exactly as she wanted until the very end”.