I apologise. I was going on the basis of a friend's experience and what he was told - evidently he was misinformed. He WAS the sole next of kin, the buck stopped there. He was caring for his mother at home, and his mother got to a stage where she basically punched anyone who came near. My friend asked the family GP what he was supposed to do about his mother simultaneously complaining about being hungry and losing weight at an alarming rate, but also being incapable of feeding herself and violently refusing to let anyone else feed her. He was told "just make her eat, she doesn't know what she's doing any more. You have a duty of care now that she can't make decisions, and you can't let her starve any more than you would a baby."