'Living Will' bill to come before Dáil

A bill is to be brought before the Dáil today which is to propose changes to legislation to give people who are ill more control over their treatment.

Fine Gael TD Dr Liam Twomey is making the proposal which would mean patients would be able to decide on medical treatment early on if they lose the ability to do so at a later date in their illness.

Such a document would take the control out of the hands of medical professionals and take the stress off family members in having to make decisions on treatment.

Deputy Twomey said it will allow patients more control over their medical treatment.

"If a person decided right now that in the event of their getting Alzheimer's, or being in a long-term coma, that they did not want to receive specific forms of medical treatment, those wishes could be completely ignored by their doctors," he said.

"What this piece of legislation is about is what we describe as 'Living Wills', where a person can say now what they would like to have done, or not done, for them in the event of them not being able to make that decision."