Right to die……..

A controversial new "right to die" card is being offered to the public in Salford (England) that allows anyone to refuse treatment in a medical emergency.

Salford's card scheme was dreamed up by just one person. The woman is involved with social care services in Salford because she has a son with mental health problems. Available in pubs, banks, libraries, GP surgeries, even some churches and by Salford Council, the Advanced Decision to Refuse Treatment (ADRT) card sits snugly in a wallet or purse and instructs a doctor to withhold treatment should the carrier lose the capacity to make decisions, because of an accident or illness.

Its backers say it is a practical way of implementing the Mental Capacity Act, which came into force in 2007. The act allows adults to draw up "advance directives" stating what sort of treatment they don't want should they lose capacity. They build on the principle of "living wills" but, crucially, mean that doctors are legally bound to abide by a patient's wish to refuse life-sustaining treatment. Carrying the card alerts anyone who finds it that the patient has made decisions about treatment, and there is a detailed statement to be found with named relatives or friends and, ideally, their GP.

Pro-life campaigners say they could be snapped up in haste by people who haven't fully understood the complexity of the issues involved. One of their concerns is that the things people want when they are well are very different to those they want when they are unwell, their values change.

One person who is carrying the card said she started thinking seriously about her rights some years ago, while working as a nursing assistant. Having watched a young woman go through a slow and painful death from Huntington's disease and cancer, she knew she would never want a similar experience. She had seen her father go through it and knew what was coming, she said she didn't want to die like he had, but she hadn't written anything down and her mother and carers had to watch her go through exactly the same thing. It made me think about my options and my rights. Would I be able to make decisions if I knew what might be coming?

I can understand the reasoning behind the card and feel it is probably a good idea like carrying an organ donor card – which I do – but I can’t help but wonder what medic would have the time, in an emergency situation to try to determine if the patient was carrying any sort of card?

I am all for introducing the ‘opt out’ system, for both organ donorship and right to die, on a national computerised system, whereby if you’re NOT on it medics can harvest your organs and put you on life support. That would save carrying cards – the information would be there at the click of a button.

What do you think?