MCA limbo, no assessment no IMCA - who is responsible...?

Law and practice Mental Capacity Act
1

I have now been detained under the MCA/DoLS for almost FIVE YEARS. I am NOT mentally incapacitated (as was confirmed by two psychiatrists at BRI a year ago, however this was never communicated to the CoP).

I am now in my mid-40s, and have spent the entirety of my current decade detained, my mental and physical health are rapidly deteriorating (I have PTSD from a violent relationship and I believe the stress of all this has caused my thyroid to malfunction (Graves’ disease)).

I have a solicitor, but she will do nothing to assist me (I never receive any response from her beyond an automatic reply). Obviously I have a SW but, again, she will only answer to the CoP and my inquiries to her as to why I a) was NEVER assessed for the MCA/DoLS order and b) why I do not have an IMCA have gone unanswered.

How can it POSSIBLY be legal/lawful to detain someone under the MCA 2005 without assessment…? I have studied the legislation (via the SCIE) and, as I understand it as a layperson, there is no provision within the law for detention without assessment. If that is correct, then would my detention, therefore, not be unlawful…?

Staff here are, to put in bluntly, jobsworths and will do nothing to assist me, beyond what they claim they have been instructed to do by the CoP. I don’t feel safe. They have taken my phone (they claim that’s safeguarding) and threaten me with the police if I ask to see where they claim everything is “written down”.

I am a DV survivor; my ex was a controlling, violent, alcoholic. I am basically living under 'house arrest", I can’t leave the flat (and I am now too ill to do so anyway).

This is the closest I’ve ever come to feeling truly suicidal; I have had to fight abuse my entire life, I’ve never really lived. Untreated Graves’ disease can lead to a condition known as a thyrotoxic crisis (aka thyroid storm) which is fatal if not treated promptly. Staff are physically and psychologically abusive (safeguarding reports have been made to the council and ignored). I can say that, with 100% certainty, if anything was to happen to me in here, I’d be gone.

I have tried to find someone who would assess me under the MCA - the only person I could find wanted £2,500 for a retrospective MCA assessment! Needless to say, I don’t have that kind of money.

This is a poky little flat in BS5, owned by the care agency; I am on a main road, which is playing merry hell with my tinnitus and hyperacusis. I am not allowed to do anything for myself. I’m just stuck in the bedroom 24/7 and my mental health is shot. I really don’t see the point of existing anymore. This is inhuman treatment (HRA, Article 3) and unlawful detention (HRA, Article 5). Due to my hyperthyroidism, I have lost a great deal of weight; I can’t eat much because it goes right through me, and I don’t sleep; partly due to the noise, partly because I don’t feel safe and partly because GD causes insomnia.

What gets me is that everyone is so in thrall to the CoP that they can’t see the evidence in front of their own eyes - that the person being detained is anything but mentally incapacitated!

I have had people come to visit me and staff have sent them away without informing me (again, that’s “safeguarding”).

I have no food, other than what they give me (and it’s often inedible - I had to bin the chicken thighs which were my ‘dinner’ because they had maggots crawling around on them). I have had to enable a VPN in an attempt to stop them monitoring me online.

I have an ICAA (independent Care Act advocate) but, like everyone else involved with my case, she will do nothing over and above her remit. I don’t need care; the situation here is nothing more than state-sanctioned DV and it’s destroying me. I am in the throes of a complete breakdown. I NEED to get out of this situation before it destroys me completely.

So, with all that said, what can I do…?

  1. How do I go about self-appointing an IMCA…?

  2. How do I prove that I am fully compos mentis…?

  3. How do I access legal assistance when I now have no recourse to public funds, due to my statutory legal aid being used to pay for the CoP-appointed brief…?

  4. How do I prove my detainment is unlawful and a breach of my human rights…?

I learnt the other day that Colin Pitchfork, who raped and murdered two teenage girls in the early '70s, is now being held at a local open prison. This, presumably, means he is allowed unsupervised leave. I have less freedom and fewer rights than a murderer.

Where can I go for help…? I’m frightened. How is ANY of this lawful…?!

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if you are on a DoLS, you should ask to see a copy. If the DoLS has been authorised, you should also have a Paid RPR (relevant persons representative) who should visit you regularly. They can apply for a S21a challenge of the DoLS for you which gives you legal aid.
However, sadly you cant request an IMCA yourself as IMCA’s are only available for those who lack capacity around a certain decision, and have no family or friends to advocate for them/you. If you lack capacity, you cant instruct an advocate, if you have capacity then the advocate you do have, i would have thought would be able to provide you with what legal act your being held under. Ask for evidence of lack of capacity and a copy of your DoLS authorisation, which should be provided to you.