Politics
Tuesday August 3, 2004
UK Man Wins Right not to be Deprived of Nutrition and Hydration
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
LANCASTER, August 3, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Leslie Burke of Lancaster, UK has won a legal challenge to the General Medical Council (GMC) guidance on the treatment of the terminally ill. Mr. Burke, whose cerebellar ataxia may eventually prevent him from communicating his views on his own treatment to family and doctors, is overjoyed: the High Court ruling may save his life from being prematurely cut off.
In the course of his appeal, Mr Burke argued that the GMC guidance should be changed to oblige doctors to assume that the patient would want to keep on living were he in a condition to make his desires known. This way, doctors will not have to act on a patient's supposed wishes or make value judgments on a person's quality of life. Justice Munby took issue with the GMC guidance, saying that "one can see error creeping into the guidance in different ways". A source of concern is its tendency to focus on the patient's right to refuse treatment rather than on the right to receive it. In practice, nutrition and water are sometimes withdrawn from patients who are unable to voice their desires simply because their condition is severe, even though death may not be imminent. The assumption behind this practice is that one's right to life depends on one's quality of life.
In Canada, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition won an important court case last January when they intervened on behalf of Joyce Holland. The 81-year-old Alzheimer's sufferer had previously stated to her attorney that she wanted medical treatment, and yet her physician petitioned the court to remove all medical treatment and allow her to die. The court ruled in her favor.
Both court cases may be important steps in a much-needed clarification of principles. Dr Michael Wilks, chair of the British Medical Association's medical ethics committee, remarked: "A decision to withhold or withdraw treatment from a patient who is dying or seriously ill is one of the most difficult and complex decisions a doctor can make." Be that as it may, the ethical principles are simple in fact and ought to be so in law.
See the BBC coverage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3938879.stm
jo
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.