Ireland: Irish Council for Bioethics to release report on advance directives

Posted today at cearta.ie:

According to media reports this morning (Irish Times | RTE), the Irish Council for Bioethicswill today publish a report on the ethical and legal issues surroundingthe structure, content and practicality of implementing advancedirectives or living wills. This is a very important development, muchto be welcomed.

Advance directives or living wills are a statement of someone’swishes and views regarding matters such as the forms of medicaltreatment to be administered or not, in circumstances where the personconcerned is not in the future in a position to decide or communicateabout such matters. They are prepared when the persons concerned arementally capable to be used when they have lost the capacity toparticipate in the decision-making process.

The ICB’s call is a timely one. At present, in Irish law, the status of such advance directives or living wills is unclear (see Older People in Modern Ireland,pp 89, 130, 141, 151, 162). They are certainly one factor whichdecision-makers (such as a next-of-kin, medical personnel, and thecourts) take into account, but there is in Ireland no equivalent of theUK’s Mental Capacity Act 2005,which from April 2007 will provide for the enforceability of advancedirectives. Such a development in Ireland would be an excellentcomplement to the pending Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill, 2007, and may even find a ready and speedy home in an amendment to that Bill.

Ed: Thanks to Dr Eoin O’Dell  for bringing this to my attention.