British Section of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life

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DAILY MAIL (London)

NEW courts with the power to decide whether a hospital patient lives or dies will be allowed to sit in secret.

The decision by ministers means the first legal tribunal for more than 40 years with the right to take a life will hear cases behind closed doors if a judge thinks the proceedings should not be made public.

The rules apply to the Court of Protection, which will police the workings of 'living wills' and ' powers of attorney' introduced under Labour's controversial Mental Capacity Act.

Living wills allow a patient to order doctors to let them die if they become too ill to speak for or feed themselves. Powers of attorney mean they can give that decision to a friend or relative.

Where a dispute arises, the Court of Protection will decide, making it the first with life-and-death powers since the death penalty was abolished for murder in 1965. Critics claim the Act amounts to back door euthanasia. They also warn it will leave the ill and incapacitated at risk from unscrupulous relatives or advisers.

Yesterday, the decision to allow the Court of Protection to sit in secret produced further protests.

Robert Whelan, from the thinktank Civitas, said: 'It will allow the courts to do anything and everything-and nobody will ever find out. It reminds me of the Abortion Act - it was supposed to have a very limited effect but when things turned out otherwise it was too late to do anything about it. We won't know what is going on in these courts.'

The move is the latest in a series of ministerial decisions which will allow the judiciary to hear growing numbers of cases in secret. Earlier this summer, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, put forward plans to allow coroners' courts investigating suspicious deaths to keep the public and media out.

There has also been pressure to open family courts to the public. Fathers' groups believe they are biased against men and there are also concerns over child custody and adoption rulings.

But a new regime will not allow the public in to hearings and will prevent the media from reporting the names of those involved. Lord Falconer has sent out a 'consultation paper' on the rules for the Court of Protection to be enforced when the Mental Capacity Act comes into operation next April.

The procedures which can be put into effect on the authority of the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, say that a judge may stage proceedings in secret if publicity would defeat the object of the hearing; if a hearing involves confidential information; if a private hearing would protect the interests of the patient; or if he or she 'considers this to be necessary in the interests of justice'.

Lord Falconer's paper also says: 'The court may order that identities of people involved in a case are not disclosed if it is considered necessary to protect their interests.' And it adds: 'The circumstances under which the court may consider that all or part of a hearing should be heard in private are wide.'

The secrecy surrounding the Court of Protection is the latest in a series of controversies over the Mental Capacity Act.

It caused a rebellion among Labour MPs worried about its closeness to a euthanasia law when it passed through the Commons in 2004.

The Act allows patients to set out the treatment they should have if they become incapacitated.

They will be able to order doctors to let them die by withdrawing feeding and drinking tubes.

However, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed this week that no one will be able to make a living will which insists that they be kept alive if incapacitated.

The wills need not be written down and can be communicated verbally. The Court of Protection will have to make decisions when disputes arise.

It will also decide when doctors disagree about living wills with a patient's family or friends. But doctors who refuse to kill their patients are open to criminal prosecution.

Disputes over the powers of attorney will also be heard. It has provoked concern because patients will be able to hand power over their life to another simply by ticking a box. Critics fear there are too few safeguards against abuse.