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Withdrawing Care


A Judge has ruled that it is no longer permitted for relatives to obtain legal permission to withdraw care from a family member in a diagnosed permanent vegetative state.

Before this ruling there have always been situations where care could be withdrawn, for example when a ‘DNR’ (do not resuscitate order) has been made or the patient is on dialysis, but removing sustenance was always treated differently and required a court order.

It has been this way for almost 25 years but this ruling has over turned this- it is expected that the state will appeal this decision.

The problem here is it is the withdrawal of sustenance that will end a person’s life, it is possible to withdraw many medical treatments that will end a person’s life without a court order, but food and water have always been different.

On an emotive level it’s easy to understand that withdrawing food and water should be treated differently, the thought of it is very hard to understand, but on a medical level that takes into account the patient, the decision may be easier.

It must be remembered that both Doctors and family need to be in agreement and that it’s in the patients best interest to withdraw the sustenance, and if all other options such as withdrawal of medical care have been explored.

In this case even where the doctors and family members agreed the legal costs amounted to £30,000 which does seem mad when the family and doctors are in agreement.

In my view this case highlights the need to again review the laws concerning euthanasia.

Withdrawing Care
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