Bernard Allen
Ceist:249 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on a recent report from the Institute of Medical Ethics Working Party on Prolonging Life and Assisting Death which has come out in favour of active euthanasia even if it means withholding vital food and water from patients who are permanently brain damaged but who may not be in a complete coma and that doctors, caring for such patients in a persistent vegative state, are morally justified if they decide to withhold life sustaining treatment.