Victorians could soon have greater control over their deaths by being allowed to refuse life-saving treatment for future illnesses, under proposed laws strongly endorsed by the Health Minister.
The proposed laws being considered by the state government would enable people to set directives about healthcare and medical treatment for conditions they don’t yet have.
Health Minister David Davis said these so-called ”instructional healthcare directives” were about giving people the choice to reject treatment which could simply make their life ”unpleasant, uncomfortable and may, in some cases, be futile”. ”I strongly support the ability of people, with their families, to make clear their wishes ahead of time, in terms of medical treatment,”
The proposal is one of 440 recommendations by the commission to overhaul Victoria’s guardianship laws. But the commission’s report, which was tabled in State Parliament last week, has made clear that any legislative change should not allow healthcare directives to authorise euthanasia or assisted suicide. It also recommends giving doctors the right to refer their patient to another doctor if they are unable to comply with an instruction due to their personal views or beliefs.
Commission acting chairman David Jones said the proposal was designed to empower people to make decisions about their own lives, while they are still capable of doing so.
“Otherwise what happens is that … people lose the capacity to make the decision themselves,” Mr Jones said. “This can result in family difficulties – for instance, where someone says: ‘no, we want mum to get treatment so she can go on living’ while other members of the family say ‘no, she’s got no quality of life, she wouldn’t have wanted this’.”
The report follows an extensive inquiry commissioned in 2009 by the former Labor government.
Allowing people not yet cognitively impaired to set directives about future medical treatment could prove politically sensitive for the government. John Chesterman, policy manager for the Office of the Public Advocate, said having the capacity to make decisions over your own medical treatment was important. “We’re mindful of the need to keep safeguards in place and to make sure all steps are taken to ensure the social wellbeing of the person.”
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- Topics:
- Health, Human Rights
- Author:
- Farrah Tomazin
- Source:
- The Age
- Date published:
- Sun 22nd Apr, 2012