End of life care: Acting on advance refusals of treatment

1. 67. Some patients worry that towards the end of their life they may be given medical treatments that they do not want. So they may want to make their wishes clear about particular treatments in circumstances that might arise in the course of their future care. When discussing any proposed advance refusal, you should explain to the patient how such refusals would be taken into account if they go on to lose capacity to make decisions about their care.

Subsections:

• When advance refusals are binding (paragraph 68)
• Non-binding advance refusals (paragraph 69)
• Assessing the validity of advance refusals (paragraph 70)
• Assessing the applicability of advance refusals (paragraph 71)
• Doubt or disagreement about the status of advance refusals (paragraphs 72-74)