Advance Healthcare Decisions Bill 2010

Public bill · Private Member · Presented

The Advance Healthcare Decisions Bill 2010 would allow adults with decision-making capacity to record which medical treatments they would refuse if they later became unable to decide for themselves. The decision would generally need to be written, witnessed and confirmed by a doctor, and could be changed or withdrawn while the person had capacity; refusing life-sustaining treatment would require extra safeguards. It would not cover basic care, such as warmth, cleanliness, food and hydration, or treatment intended to relieve pain, and the High Court could resolve disputes about whether a decision was valid or applied. It would also allow someone to appoint an attorney to make specified healthcare decisions, subject to the person’s advance wishes and limits set out in the appointment.

Formal long title

Bill entitled an Act to provide for the making of medical treatment decisions in advance by competent persons with the intention of those decisions subsequently providing for the provision or withholding of care at a time when the person loses competence to make treatment decisions; to amend the Powers of Attorney Act 1996 to allow for attorneys under that Act to take healthcare treatment decisions; and to provide for connected matters

Last updated 12 April 2018