Recommendation 19

In recent years there have been too many incidences of autistic people and people with learning disabilities dying in inpatient settings. Families and friends have too often had to go to extreme and difficult lengths to have independent reviews into such deaths. Of even greater concern is that in some cases, the poor treatment of autistic people and people with learning disabilities has led to people dying unnecessarily in hospital. The evidence we heard presented a compelling case for making mandatory, subject to family consent, an independent review of every autistic person and person with a learning disability who dies in inpatient settings or community settings.