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UK Town Council issues 10,000 right-to-die cards

The city council of Salford, in the northwest corner of England, has implemented a pilot scheme to issue 'right to die' cards to the general public, to be made available in pubs, banks, libraries, GP surgeries and even some churches, reports Hilary White, LifeSiteNews.com. The "Advanced Decision to Refuse Treatment" card instructs doctors not to treat the holder if he has lost the capacity to make decisions because of an accident or illness. Pro-life advocates predicted that such provisions will put patients at risk who do not fully understand the new sweeping powers given to doctors under the Labour government's Mental Capacity Act.

A Salford council spokesman defended the cards to the Daily Mail, saying, "The cards have not been produced by Salford City Council alone - local NHS organisations, the voluntary sector and private care organisations have all been involved." Pro-life advocates fear that the scheme introduced in Salford will be the first test before spreading it to other councils of the UK.

The card allows doctors to refuse cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, assisted breathing and artificial feeding.

The Mental Capacity Act extends the provisions of a series of court decisions to a legal framework in which the patient's "best interests" can be interpreted by a doctor as a need to be killed by refusal of treatment or withdrawal of food and hydration which are classified under the Act as extraordinary "medical treatment".

Under the provisions of the Act, a doctor is required to adhere to the stated desire of a patient in such "advance directives" to withhold treatment including life-sustaining food and hydration. "The cards were produced as a way of encouraging people to understand the implications of the Mental Capacity Act and its importance to their lives," the spokesman said.

Antonia Tully of Patients First Network, however, denounced the instructional leaflet as disingenuous, calling the cards "dangerous and confusing" and saying they "could be used to place vulnerable people at risk of a painful and premature death".

"It is ludicrous to suggest that 'basic care, support and comfort' can be given to someone while they are being dehydrated and starved to death. There seems to be a 'death at all costs' mentality behind this scheme which also suggests that people fax or post a copy of their advance decision to the local ambulance service."

"Perhaps this is to avoid the risk of the ambulance crew doing anything to preserve life," she added.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005, that came into force in April 2007, was the result of many years of individual court cases, mainly involving infants, where children were "allowed to die" by dehydration or withholding of treatment. In one such case in 1990, a baby with Down Syndrome, also had potentially fatal intestinal obstruction which might have been treated with surgery. The child's parents, however, decided it would be in her "best interests" if she were allowed to die without the surgery. The decision was later upheld by Lord Justice Dunn at first instance, who lauded the parents' decision as being "an entirely reasonable one".

Britain's main test case for euthanasia by dehydration of incapacitated patients was that of Tony Bland who died by court-supported dehydration in 1993. Bland had been injured and was judged to be in a non-responsive "persistent vegetative state". Doctors judged that because the "treatment" of food and hydration by tube could not cure Mr. Bland of his condition, it should be discontinued as "futile". The Lords subsequently ruled that keeping a severely handicapped patient alive is not necessarily "in his best interests".

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, Britain's largest pro-life organisation, said when it was being debated, the Mental Capacity Act "will have profound repercussions - it will mean that doctors will be forced to choose between killing some of their patients and leaving the profession. It will destroy what is left of medical ethics in this country."

[05/28/2008]

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