Footnotes

• Correction notice In box 1 of this paper the abbreviations were not defined, this omission has now been rectified. The abbreviations are as follows: IVF, in vitro fertilisation; EPO, Emergency Protection Order; IPO, Interim Protection Order; PPO, Police Protection Order.

• Contributors Both RP and GG contributed to the research and writing of this article. A first draft by GG was amended and appended by RP, who applied his medicolegal training and expertise to the work. Dr Stephanie Bown, the Director of Communications and Policy at MPS, provided final approval to this article and controlled the decision to publish. Dr Bown is the guarantor. Both RP and GG reflected on the editorial board and reviewers’ comments and approved the revised article they have prepared.

• Competing interests Both authors are employed by MPS (a MDO).

• Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.