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Mentally Iii Patients

Volume 977: debated on Wednesday 30 January 1980

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asked the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions patients in mental illness and mental handicap hospitals were sterilised during the years 1975 to 1979 in Wales; whether he is satisfied that in each case the patient was capable of giving valid legal consent; and if the patient was not capable, what form of consent was accepted.

Sterilisation operations are not carried out in mental illness or mental handicap hospitals. Patients in these hospitals who require to be sterilised are treated in general hospitals which do not record the mental status of the patient. It is for the doctor in charge to ensure that legal and ethical requirements as to consent are observed.