§ Dr. IddonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many responses she has received to the consultation paper, "Who Decides? Making Decisions on Behalf of Mentally Incapacitated Adults" (Cm 3803); how many respondents were(a) in favour of and (b) against withholding food and fluids from incapacitated patients who are not dying; and if she will make a statement. [159181]
§ Jane KennedyOver 4,000 responses to the consultation paper were received. The question of whether respondents were in favour of or against withholding food and fluids from incapacitated patients who are not dying was not posed in the consultation paper. The consultation paper did ask whether the discontinuation of artificial nutrition and hydration should be lawful for defined patients if certain statutory criteria are met and whether
patients who have no prospect of recovery who are either unconscious or in a permanent vegetative stateis a suitable definition for this class of patients. There was a large and varied response to these questions.