A House of Lords question yesterday on hydration, which shows the continuing drip, drip of Parliamentarians keeping on about rights to be kept alive – many people, particularly Catholics and Muslims, feel quite strongly that keeping on giving liquids is an important signal that a healthcare provider is committed to maintaining life rather than prepared to assist with death. As the answer makes clear, the medical view is that this is not the issue; that hydration is a ‘treatment’ that doctors cannot ethically give if it is medically inappropriate. This is something that needs a lot of careful explanation, and social workers need to be able to answer people’s questions about it, as well as other people who are helping people in healthcare.
Health: Hydration Question
Asked by Lord Patten

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether patients entering NHS hospitals can request that their hydration is not stopped by doctors, nurses or other healthcare professions; and, if so, how. [HL5496]

Baroness Thornton: Yes. They may make their request in any manner they wish. However, clinicians cannot be compelled to provide the particular treatment requested. In deciding upon such a request from a patient, healthcare professionals may need to make a distinction between requests for fluids to keep the patient comfortable and hydration for a purpose that they consider to be “clinically unnecessary, futile, or inappropriate”.1

Note:

1 Paragraph 9.5 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005: Code of Practice

See it on the internet: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/91020w0001.htm#column_WA60