§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out the reasons which led to his Department issuing instructions to discontinue elective ventilation. [115673]
§ Mr. LammyIn 1994, the Department of Health received legal advice that an intervention not made with the patients consent and not made in the patients best interest was unlawful. This could leave health authorities, National Health Service trusts and individual clinicians open to the risk of prosecution for battery if the practice of elective ventilation was engaged in. In addition, there is a small risk of inducing a persistent vegetative state in some patients, which would clearly not be in their best interests.