Sir: It is pleasing to note that one discriminatory aspect of law reported by the College's Gay and Lesbian Special Interest Group (Reference Bartlett, Warner and KingBartlett et al, 2002) was recently overturned in the courts.

In R on the application of SSG and Liverpool City Council and Secretary of State for Health (CO/1220/2002, finalised on the 7 November, 2002), the court declared that the homosexual partner of a patient can be treated as falling within the phrase ‘living with the patient as the patient's husband or wife as the case may be’ in s26(6) of the Mental Health Act 1983.

This means that it is now possible to construe same-gender partners as equivalent, both in meaning and in effect, to ‘husband or wife’ at s26(1) of the Act. Same-sex partners so construed can, therefore, now be recognised as having priority when determining the identity of a patient's nearest relative.