The Advance decisions to refuse treatment publication, last updated in 2008, has now been updated for 2013. The guide is designed to help health and social care professionals to understand the The Mental Capacity Act (2005) Code of Practice for ADRT and how it relates to advance decisions to refuse treatment.
This 2013 version covers:
- how to make an advance decision to refuse treatment, who can make an advance decision, when a decision should be reviewed and how it can changed or withdrawn
- what should be included
- rules applying to advance decisions to refuse life-sustaining treatment and how they relate to other rules about decision making
- how to decide on the existence, validity and applicability of advance decisions and what healthcare professionals should do if an advance decision is not valid or applicable
- the implications for healthcare professionals of advance care decisions, including situations where a healthcare professional has a conscientious objection to stopping or providing life-sustaining treatment
- what happens if there is a disagreement about an advance decision.
The publication can be downloaded from the End of Life Care Programme website, and hard copies can be ordered by emailing information@eolc.nhs.uk
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