If someone is in hospital under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act..

[BertrandRussell]

.....what happens if they refuse to eat or drink? Just that really. I know that they can’t refuse medication, but can they refuse food?

It would depend on if the refusal was made capaciously or not.

So for example if someone was under s.2 because of e.g anorexia and it was felt that because of their mental health condition they lacked capacity to fully appreciate the risk they were in then by not eating then part of the treatment plan could be to feed by nasogastric tube.

If on the other hand they were there for another reason and declared they were going on a hunger strike in protest or something and they understood that this may lead to death, were able to give their reasons for taking this course of action etc then the hospital would probably have to wait until they had reason to believe the person no longer had capacity to continue to make that decision before they could physically intervene.

Completely agree with the poster above. Any intervention would be dependent on a lack of capacity. It would be the patient's Responsible Clinician's responsibility to conduct: arrange a capacity assessment

They won’t let them dehydrate. They will tube feed as a last resort or admit to the medical ward for iv fluids.

If it’s a general mental health unit and not an eating disorders unit they’re likely to transfer them to the main hospital as they don’t usually take people on a drip or NG fed.

In practice, it’s not going to happen that they consider someone refusing all food and fluids to have capacity.

I’ve been in hospital under a section 2 - very briefly for six days with suspected post partum psychosis.

I didn’t eat several meals after being admitted and nothing was made of it. I started eating again though after advice from legal representation that I needed to eat meals as part of evidence that I could be safely released.

So pretty much as above - if it’s not affecting their wellbeing immediately, I can’t see it being an issue. Longer term though i.e several days, then it would be a different issue.

She hasn’t been eating for a while- they’ve put her on a drip a couple of times, but she’s losing weight rapidly. I think she’s trying to starve herself.

Did she consent to the drip?

I don’t know- and I don’t think anyone thought to ask. We were just so relieved to see it.....

Eating disorder?

I'm thankful I don't know. But I expect the hospital would claim that the patient's refusal to eat was part of their mental health condition and any force-feeding or IV nutrition was part of the treatment.