BMJ 1995;310:1604 (17 June)

Letters

Advance directives

Approved guidelines are now required

EDITOR,--While it is useful to know that the Law Commission has followed the House of Lords in appearing to support the concept of advance directives,1 2 it is disappointing that more formal guidelines have not been suggested or approved. Keeping concepts in loose terms may satisfy the lawyers, who may in turn make incomes out of the loopholes, but this will not help our patients. Who will define capacity and the ability to consent or withhold consent? At present the final arbiter is the law, but recent cases suggest that this is muddled and not helpful to medical practitioners or patients.

We like to believe that adults without mental illness have a right to self determination, yet Re T and Re S both indicate that this is not so.3 4 Re T concerned a Jehovah's Witness who refused blood transfusion: the courts decided that her decision had . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Advance directives
Len Doyal
BMJ 1995 310: 612-613. [Extract] [Full Text]

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