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Mental Health Bill [HL]

To my knowledge, the effects tend to happen very soon after ECT is given. I think there were studies about the consequences of ECT over a six-month period. The research that I am thinking of showed that, over that longer period, the results of ECT and drugs were similar. Therefore, my conclusion is that wherever possible one gives drugs and not ECT. I have tried to make the point that where a child’s life is in danger—and only when a child’s life is in danger—one should use ECT to save a life. In assessing whether a child’s life is really in danger, one needs a second-opinion doctor and the opinion either of the child, if he or she has some capacity, which, frankly, is unlikely in the circumstances, or the consent of a parent. It is a matter of putting in all the safeguards one can to save a very small number of lives.