Advance Decisions
Advance decisions have been allowed in Britain since the passing of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Essentially, they allow an individual to write down their wish to refuse life-sustaining treatment, so that if they are no longer able to communicate they can be assured that doctors and other medical staff know what their wishes are and that they are legally binding. Additionally, a person can also state in their advance decision what life-sustaining treatment they do wish for, although doctors do not ultimately have to respect that request.
Read more about this topic: Dignity In Dying
Famous quotes containing the words advance and/or decisions:
“No advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimetre nearer.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“You can’t talk about a kind of democracy unless those who are affected by decisions make those decisions whether the institutions in question be the welfare department, the university, the factory, the farm, the neighborhood, the country.”
—Casey Hayden (b. c. 1940)