§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he is required to give special permission to the doctors at Rampton special hospital to perform brain leucotomies; and, if not, who decides the operation is necessary;
(2) if he is satisfied with the regulations surrounding the brain leucotomies carried out on young women at Rampton special hospital; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. VaughanThere are no provisions in the Mental Health Act or other statutory provisions laying down procedures to be followed before a leucotomy is carried out. The question of which treatment is to be offered to a patient is a matter for the clinical judgment of the doctors concerned in the treatment of the patient.
The White Paper "Review of the Mental Health Act 1959" (Cmnd. 7320), published last year, proposed new statutory safeguards where it was proposed to administer irreversible treatment for mental disorder. We are considering what action to take in the light of the comments received.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many Rampton patients have committed suicide after undergoing leucotomy.
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§ Dr. VaughanOne Rampton patient, who had a long history of self-inflicted injury, committed suicide 2½ years after undergoing leucotomy.