Disability Rights Law
Our Team
Full Credential Description
Louisa was separated from Ethan’s father and needed all the support she could get to be able to bring Ethan back home safely from the hospital. However, the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which made an initial assessment about the level of care Ethan needed, offered her only five nights of support per week. Louisa suffers from a condition similar to narcolepsy, where she struggles to keep awake for long periods of time, and she knew that she could not manage to look after Ethan for 48 hours on her own without sufficient sleep. Bringing him home under these conditions would have meant putting him at risk. Ethan therefore remained in the hospital while Louisa visited him regularly, worked to support them both and did everything she could to persuade the CCG to change its mind, without success. Furthermore, she was warned that if she did not accept the CCG offer, she ran the risk of Ethan being taken into care. Louisa could not afford to pay for a lawyer but luckily managed to find LawWorks through the charity Together for Short Lives, and was given the support of two volunteer lawyers to help her challenge the decision made by the CCG. Ethan had been due to have the final operation to remove the last section of the tumour, but the start of the pandemic delayed the operation and he then contracted Covid-19. However, with the help of the LawWorks volunteer solicitors and her social worker, as well as an intervention from her MP, Louisa was able to make the case to the CCG for Ethan to have the seven nights of care that he needed. She was finally able to bring him home when he was 20 months old.
Qualifications & Expertise
Law Society Accredited Pro Bono Charity