Captain FABERasked the President of the Local Government Board whether, looking at a recent case in which a doctor refused to allow a man to be removed to an asylum owing to weakness, although he had himself certified the man insane, he will consider the advisability of preventing any local authority from appointing only one doctor to certify lunatics; and whether the Local Government Board or the Lunacy Commissioners have any 2693W power over a single doctor and are able to call in another doctor, if necessary?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe President of the Local Government Board has asked me to answer this question. A local authority has no power to appoint any doctor to certify lunatics for reception into asylums; it rests with the justice who makes the order tinder Section 16 of the Lunacy Act, 1890, to call in any medical practitioner whom he may choose to examine the patient and sign the certificate. Neither the Local Government Board nor the Lunacy Commissioners have any power over the doctor who has given a certificate under Section 19 (2) for the suspension of removal, nor are they able to call in another doctor.