Living wills will have to specify treatments that patient is refusing

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7447.1035-c

BMJ 2004;328:1035 (1 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7447.1035-c

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Living wills will have to specify treatments that patient is refusing

Clare Dyer, legal correspondent

BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Advance directives—also called living wills—willhave to specify clearly the treatments a patient is refusing,under improvements announced last week to legislation whichwill put them on a statutory footing.

The constitutional affairs minister, Lord Filkin, outlined arange of changes to the Mental Incapacity Bill after recommendationsby interest groups and by a parliamentary committee scrutinisingthe bill.

Michael Schiavo is fighting to have thefeeding tube removed from his wife, Terri, who has been in acoma in Flo rida for 13 years. Living wills should make suchcases unnecessary

Credit: CHRIS O'MEARA/AP

The government had already accepted the committee's suggestionthat the bill be renamed the Mental Capacity Bill, to emphasisethat people will be assumed capable of taking their own decisionswhere possible.

The bill will plug a loophole in the law of England and Walesby setting up a framework for decisions to be taken . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Living Wills: raphael Cohen-Almagor
bmj.com, 1 May 2004 [Full text]
Advance Refusals: Julia J Millington
bmj.com, 30 Apr 2004 [Full text]
Unknown future: John H Scotson
bmj.com, 1 May 2004 [Full text]
The right to live and the right to die: Giusto Giusti, et al.
bmj.com, 1 May 2004 [Full text]
The "What if you change your mind?" argument: James Austin
bmj.com, 1 May 2004 [Full text]
Could suicidal advance directives be legally binding?: Michael R Jarmulowicz
bmj.com, 3 May 2004 [Full text]
Opinion can be Artfully Moulded: Mary J Curtis
bmj.com, 3 May 2004 [Full text]
Specify "treatments" to be refused?: Hilary Buler
bmj.com, 3 May 2004 [Full text]
Re: The "What if you change your mind?" argument: Helen P Watt
bmj.com, 3 May 2004 [Full text]
Re: Could suicidal advance directives be legally binding?: L S Lewis
bmj.com, 4 May 2004 [Full text]
Living wills: clarifications of misinterpretations!: Dr. Naseem A. Qureshi
bmj.com, 4 May 2004 [Full text]