HL Deb 15 June 1967 vol 283 cc1028-9

3.22 p.m.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have considered the possibility of legal action for damages which might arise from the death of a woman who has been officially encouraged to use the contraceptive pill at a clinic conducted by a local authority.]

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I am advised that legal action for damages against a local authority could arise only if the courts were satisfied that the death or injury to health of a woman was the direct result of administering the particular oral contraceptive and that the prescribing doctor had been guilty of negligence. This is equally true of other medical procedures. It is for the doctor advising the woman concerned to exercise his professional judgment in weighing the advantages of the use of the oral contraceptive against other risks that may be material in the circumstances of the particular case.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, do I understand from that Answer that all the responsibility is to be on the shoulders of the poor individual doctor, and that the Government are bearing no responsibility for this serious state?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I should have thought that it was unfair to draw that conclusion. After all, a doctor who takes a decision to open up the body of a patient on the operating table has to take into account possible risks, and this he does having before him all the circumstances concerning the case. As I said earlier, and as I now say again in answer to this question it is a matter of weighing one risk against another.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, may I ask my noble friend how can he find any analogy with a doctor performing an operation? When a doctor opens a patient there is no alternative, obviously; but so far as contraceptives are concerned, there are many other alternatives.

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, if my noble friend wants to go into the details of this, may I say that we are talking about contraception and the efficiency of one method as against another. I absolutely agree with her about the doubt that may exist in the mind of any reasonable person about the long-term medical effects of taking this preparation. On the other hand, if we look at it as a contraceptive method, the fact is, I am advised, that it is over 99 per cent. effective, whereas in the case of one other modern mechanical device, there is a 3 per cent. failure rate, and in another modern method there is a 6 per cent. failure rate. So the question here is one of deciding whether you want to accept a slight additional risk of long-term effects, or whether you want an efficient contraceptive device.

LORD SALTOUN

My Lords, are Her Majesty's Government saying that it is a case in which the county council has no responsibility at all for advice given by the county medical officer? That is how I understood the original Answer. I should like to be clear about it.

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, it is not quite so simple as the noble Lord is suggesting. In most of these matters it is a question of the action taken by the individual. Negligence would have to be proved against the individual. Whether he was acting under instructions which would bring in his employing authority is another matter.

LORD SALTOUN

My Lords, if such a case did arise, would the cost of it be a charge on the council or a surcharge on councillors?

VISCOUNT DILHORNE

My Lords, is it really possible for the noble Lord to give answers to these entirely hypothetical questions?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I am much obliged to the noble and learned Viscount. I think that the noble Lord is taking supposition to infinite lengths.