U-turn on brain surgery consent

The Scottish executive has backed down over
laws that would have led to people undergoing controversial brain
surgery without consent.

Neurosurgery for Mental Disorder
(NMD), also called psychosurgery, involves using a laser to destroy
brain tissue. It is used for a relatively small number of patients
with severe mental illness.

With
the implementation of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act
2000 on 1 July this year, NMD could have been given to patients
without their permission and on the order of the Court of
Session.

But
after formal protests by the Scottish Association for Mental
Health, minister for health Malcolm Chisholm announced that the new
regulations were to be amended to exclude NMD “to allow fuller time
for parliamentary consideration”.