Published 2 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b875
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b875

News

GMC is to reconsider guidance on end of life care

Clare Dyer

1 BMJ

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

Comprehensive guidance for doctors on care at the end of life, including difficult decisions on when to provide, withhold, or withdraw life prolonging treatment, will go out for consultation from the UK’s General Medical Council in March.

The draft guidance was approved by the council at its February meeting, subject to minor amendments. The consultation will be launched in the week beginning 23 March and will end in July.

The new advice takes account of the Mental Capacity Act 2005; government strategies on end of life care in England and Scotland; GMC guidance in 2007 on consent; recent research; and a Court of Appeal judgment on a legal challenge to the GMC’s 2002 guidance Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Prolonging Treatments.

Leslie Burke, a patient with spinocerebellar ataxia, challenged the lawfulness of the 2002 guidance, which said: "If you are the consultant or general practitioner in charge of a patient’s care, . . . [Full text of this article]


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