Advance Refusals of Life‐Sustaining Medical Treatment
The Relativity of an Absolute Right
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9196569 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sabine Michalowski (0000-0001-9593-6386, University of Essex, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 958-982 |
| Publication date | 2005-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Law Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0026-7961 • E-ISSN: 1468-2230 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1468-2230.2005.00568.x |
| OpenAlex | W2092681758 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
English law gives the competent patient a right to refuse life‐saving treatment, either contemporaneously or in an advance directive. This means that the patient's autonomous choice that in an anticipated situation his/her interests are better served by rejecting life‐saving treatment needs to be respected. However, this right is undermined in practice by the courts' approach of applying a presumption in favour of preserving the patient's life whenever the validity and applicability of an advance directive is questioned. The article argues that the patient's right to refuse life‐saving treatment only receives the respect it deserves if the decision whether or not a valid and applicable advance directive exists in a given case is instead be approached in an unbiased, disinterested way, and it analyses how this can be achieved in different scenarios
Absolute (philosophy) · Directive · Epistemology · Human rights · Law and economics · Medical emergency · Medical treatment · Political science · Presumption · Right to life · Sociology · Computer Science · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare · Law · Legal principles and applications · Medicine · Patient Dignity and Privacy · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.21 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2012 - 2020 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |