Hydration and nutrition is classed by the medical profession as medical treatment if a patient has lost the physical ability to swallow and as such has to be fed and hydrated artificially via tubes inserted directly into the patient's stomach (see [2004] Gazette, 7 October, 14). This is clearly different from the act of feeding the ill and disabled (or even the invalid) such as carried out by care workers as well as the elderly. While this distinction may seem deplorable morally, we as solicitors should recognise that prescription drugs need not be administered before something can be termed 'medical treatment'. Finally, murder cannot be committed by an omission to act or by negligence. At worst, it would amount to manslaughter.


Jay Lafinhan, solicitor, Milton Keynes