By Rachel Anthony
Practitioners with clients facing long term care placements will have read the recent decision in Chantelle Peters (by her litigation friend, Susan Mary Miles) v East Midlands Strategic Health Authority and Others [2008] EWHC 778 (QB). One of the many interesting points considered in the judgement was the feasibility of the undertaking offered by the litigation friend to prevent the Claimant seeking to recover the cost of a privately funded placement but post judgment, requesting that the state provide that care (without cost to the Claimant.) The undertaking offered was rejected as being unworkable by Butterfield J. It was, however, strikingly less detailed compared to the draft undertaking set out at Kemp 13-017, and it remains to be seen whether the courts would be more inclined to accept the more detailed version.