Doctors who ignore living wills ‘breaching’ patients’ rights

DOCTORS who ignore a ‘living will’ by forcing a patient to receive life-saving care against their wishes could potentially be taking part in medical assault, it has been claimed.

Speaking at the Irish Hospital Consultants Association annual conference in Cavan, senior counsel Oonah McCrann said that despite the need to protect a life, if a doctor deliberately went against a patient’s request not to receive care they could be in breach of the individual’s rights.

The comment was made just two days after a British coroner’s court found that hospital staff acted within the law when they allowed a young woman who attempted suicide to die as she had insisted they should not revive her.