Electro-shock Therapy - 15 April 1996

House of Lords Written Answer (Hansard, vol. 571, WA 54)


Lord McNair asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to their Written Answer of 8th March concerning trials to test the efficacy of electric shock treatment (ECT) in the treatment of depression (col. WA 40), and in the light of an independent survey carried out by the UK Advocacy Network on 308 recipients of ECT, which found that 35.1 per cent. of the respondents considered it to have been "damaging", whether they will commission an independent study of this treatment by non-psychiatric medical doctors.
Baroness Cumberlege: We do not consider it necessary to commission an independent study into the use of ECT.

Lord McNair asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to their Written Answer of 8th March which stated that there is "no evidence that ECT is disproportionately risky in older people" (col. WA 40), whether they consider that electroshock treatment (ECT) is under-reported as a cause of death, and whether they will, as a matter of urgency, find out how many people are dying following ECT.
Baroness Cumberlege: Unexpected deaths of patients in psychiatric hospitals will normally be subject to critical incident enquiries. Certification of death by the certifying doctor will depend on enquiries though the local coroner, who will order an inquest if this is judged to be necessary.


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