Seanad agrees compromise wording in legislation covering how treatment is administered, writes CARL O'BRIEN
MENTAL HEALTH campaigners have called on political parties to enact new legislation which would provide fresh safeguards against the use of forced electro-convulsive therapy (ECT).
In the last Act of the current Seanad prior to new elections, senators unanimously agreed to amend the wording of legislation covering the administration of ECT.
Under Section 59(b) of the current Mental Health Act, ECT may be administered where a patient is “unable or unwilling” to give consent once it has been approved by two consultant psychiatrists.
Mental health groups such as Mad Pride Ireland had sought to delete this part of the legislation to prevent the procedure being used on vulnerable patients.
In a compromise move, the word “unwilling” has been removed and replaced with the need for “written informed consent” from patients.
However, the word “unable” remains, which means ECT may still be administered if a patient is not in a position to give their consent.
Latest official figures show that about 400 patients received ECT during 2009. Of this number, about 40 patients were either unwilling or unable to give their consent.
The Bill, introduced by Green Party senator Dan Boyle, must go through the Dáil before it can be enacted, either as a private member’s Bill or with the support of the Government.
Minister of State with responsibility for Mental Health Kathleen Lynch said she supported the changes and would ensure they become law.
“Let me make it quite clear that the legislation will be changed. This Government for national recovery is committed to a review of the Act, which will be informed by human rights standards.”
The controversial issue has been the subject of heated debate for a number of years. Campaigners have been calling for the laws to be relaxed, while most members of the psychiatric profession say ECT still plays a crucial role in the treatment of vulnerable patients.
Yesterday, John McCarthy, founder of Mad Pride Ireland, said he was very happy with the compromise achieved in the Seanad.
“This is the result of a lot of work over the past three years, and we feel very proud that we have been involved in the last piece of legislation to be discussed and passed through this Seanad, possibly the last Act of the upper house,” he said.
“The removal of the word ‘unwilling’ is a great step toward the end of forced ECT in Irish mental health, but we still have to fight on, and we will bring the fight to the Dáil debate when it is introduced.”
On the other side of the debate, the College of Psychiatry has maintained that it is necessary to keep the word “unable” in order to protect the right to treatment of a very small, but severely ill group of patients to access a treatment which, it says, can be life- saving.