From Nicholas Albery, Natural Death Centre
Kathryn Brown suggests that research showing how poorly we predict our emotions
(4 September, p 36)
could leave doctors in a quandary as to whether to
resuscitate patients who are incapable of communicating their wishes. “Should
they accept patients’ earlier decisions…based on a wrong assessment of how
unhappy they thought a disease or disability would make them?” she asks. “Or
should they ignore living wills that were written specifically to ensure
patients’ views are taken into account in such circumstances?”
The answer to the second question is no. In Britain, they are obliged under
common law to respect living wills. The British Medical Association requires
that “doctors with a conscientious objection [to the contents of a living will]
must be ready to step aside”. The Crown Prosecution Service told the 1984 House
of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics that “doctors must abide by the
terms of [a] previous expression of intention or wish”.
London
