HC Deb 14 November 1989 vol 160 c198W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his Department's current advice on the value of pre-frontal lobotomy and leucotomy operations.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

[holding answer 9 November 1989]: The Department does not offer a view on the value or otherwise of particular surgical procedures. Decisions about treatment are for the professions involved. Psycho-surgical operations can only be undertaken when the special procedures of section 57 of the Mental Health Act 1983 have been followed.