Landmark ruling for compulsive eater
13 Jan 05
Council wins battle to act as legal guardian for woman with rare eating disorder
Edinburgh City Council has won a landmark legal battle to act as a guardian to a 28-year-old woman, who it is feared could eat herself to death.
The woman suffers from a rare condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome which means that she constantly feels hungry.
Social workers, concerned that the condition of the woman known as Z was deteriorating, took the unusual step of gaining a court order to make City Council social work director Duncan MacAulay her legal guardian for three years.
It also gave the council power to insist that she goes to a home in Northampton for specialist treatment.