Withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining clinically-assisted nutrition and hydration.

The previous article in this law column considered a patient's right to give a real consent before a district nurse could proceed with care and treatment. This article considers the district nurse's rights and responsibilities when considering withdrawing or withholding clinically-assisted nutrition and hydration. It focuses on recent cases in the Court of Protection, M v A Hospital [2017] , and High Court, NHS Trust v Mr Y & Mrs Y [2017] , and on the need to bring such cases to court before treatment is withdrawn.