Concerns over new guidelines for living wills

New medical guidelines could mean doctors are struck off if they refuse to adhere to “living wills” by patients requesting that their treatment be stopped and their lives ended.

Living wills acquired legal force in 2005 when the Government passed the Mental Capacity Act. They allow patients to ask doctors to discontinue their treatment if they become unable to speak, eat or drink.

The draft guidelines, which demand that doctors obey living wills, are to be circulated by the General Medical Council (GMC) and may come into force this year.

The guidelines have been criticised as going against the Hippocratic Oath, where doctors swear to “always bear in mind the obligation of preserving human life”.

According to the current law doctors are supposed to act on what they believe to be the patient’s wishes, which could be expressed either verbally or in writing in a living will.

Dr Peter Saunders, from Care Not Killing, said of the move, “We have always been opposed to legally binding rules. A doctor who treats their patient can now be actively breaking the law.”

Conservative MP Julian Brazier also said, “Medical staff will frequently have crises of conscience when the law requires them to do something they know is wrong. The GMC guidelines reflect a pernicious law,” reports The Daily Mail.

He continued, “There is always a terrible risk with living wills that somebody has changed their mind and the doctors do not know. There is also a high risk that people have relatives with a vested interest in their death.”

Doctors who refuse to comply with living wills could face being struck off from the profession and even criminal action. The guidelines by the GMC warn that “serious or persistent failure to follow this guidance will put your registration at risk”.

Another Conservative MP, Nadine Dorries, said, “It’s a thin line between someone wishing not to continue treatment - and the state of others making that decision on someone’s behalf. All over the UK patients are being cared for safe in the knowledge that their life is protected by law. This ruling will make many vulnerable and elderly people very nervous indeed.”