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Advanced Directives - "Caveat Emptor" |
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Salford City Council is putting out a card for individuals to carry, refusing medical treatmet if they should be unable to speak for themselves (BBC News, 21 May 2008). Note: since the Leslie Burke case we have no legal right to request treatment, but only to refuse it.
Profess Peter Millard, FRIP, comments:
Advance directives have fatal flaws. As Cicely Saunders said 'The one thing we cannot do is speak to the dissatisfied dead'.
Organ Donor cards inform relatives and medical staff of our desire to bring life to others after our death. In contrast, Advance Directives state that under certain circumstances, we would prefer death to life.
There lies the fatal flaw. Written in health, what if, your plea "I don't want to be kept alive on a life support machine" led to your not having life support for an illness from which you may recover?
Think about it – "That's not what you meant". Perhaps what you really wanted to say is, 'If my death is inevitable and all efforts at intensive care are unsuccessful, I would not like you to continue life support."
Prof Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, St. George's University of London
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