I request a debate on how elderly parents are cared for. I have spoken to older people who have told me that they are genuinely afraid of becoming ill and entering public hospitals. They are afraid they will be seen as a burden rather than as people and as occupiers of beds rather than as patients. More darkly, elderly people sometimes fear that they will enter hospital and never come back out.

Routine illness can rapidly become life-threatening in later life and elderly patients sometimes feel doctors will hasten death rather than provide appropriate care. These fears are not groundless. In July 2013 the British Department of Health phased out from NHS hospitals a practice called the Liverpool Care Pathway, a protocol whereby elderly people suffering from non-lethal illnesses whose conditions deteriorated were forced to suffer days of dehydration or to be sedated, leaving them unable to ask for food or drink. That was how British hospitals dealt with ill and elderly patients for more than a decade. It often appears to me that we are in danger of copying the mistakes of the British, except that we sometimes wait until they have dropped certain bad practices before we adopt them. Whether the withdrawal of care is medically justified, it should always be based on the best interests of patients, not on some prevailing ideology or economic calculation. Care for older people presents particular issues. Ageing patients can deteriorate rapidly and we need a charter of patients' rights, with particular emphasis on care for older people. A number of EU states have adopted legislation on patients' rights.

On a point of order, was the Senator here for, or is he aware of, the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill which answers all of his fears?

What is the Senator's point of order?

Is the Senator aware of the Bill which was passed here and in the Lower House and which prevents the very thing about which he is talking?

Will the Senator, please, resume her seat?

Do we have to listen to this drivel?

Sit down and cop yourself on.

Does Senator Rónán Mullen have a question for the Leader?

I have, but I also wonder why Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell engaged in that party-political rant. I tabled amendments to the Bill. I do not know whether she did.

I did and I had them passed.

What I am talking about has nothing to do with the contents of the Bill. The Senator should carry out her research before she comes into the House.

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

Yes. I hope Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell will be better researched in the future before attacking me or other Senators.

I had some of my amendments to the Bill passed. I was here for the whole debate on the Bill, unlike the Senator.

On a point of order, I applaud the Cathaoirleach's intervention. It is despicable and unacceptable that a Member should attack another Member who is speaking.

Does the Leader agree that statutory rights are needed to cover the entire area of patient care and treatment, including human rights and values, information, consent, confidentiality, privacy, care and treatment, going far beyond the issues Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell sought to raise? The criminal cases at Áras Attracta have brought before us in a topical way the urgent need to re-examine the care we provide for the most vulnerable in society. In this instance, I refer to older people as they become more and more vulnerable in their lives.

Read the Bill.