What should I include in my directive?
You can express your wishes in a general way. For example, you can state:
- particular treatment you do not want
- special medical conditions that your doctor or other medical staff should know about (such as diabetes or allergy to certain medications)
- religious, spiritual or cultural beliefs that could affect your treatment (such as a blood transfusion).
These are measures used to sustain or prolong life artificially, and include:
- cardio pulmonary resuscitation or other emergency treatment to keep your heart beating
- a machine to keep you breathing because your lungs have stopped working (assisted ventilation)
- artificial feeding and artificial hydration (administered through a tube into the stomach called a PEG).
You can give specific instructions about the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining measures if you have any of the medical conditions listed below:
- you have a terminal illness for which there is no known cure or there is no possibility that you will recover; and doctors believe you have only 12 months or less to live. (While this is written in the law, medical opinions differ as to what a terminal illness is and how long it is predicted to last.)
- you are in a persistent vegetative state. This means you have severe and irreversible brain damage with some other characteristics
- you are permanently unconscious from severe brain damage
- you have an illness or injury that is so severe that there is no reasonable prospect that you will recover and be able to live without continuing life sustaining measures.
You can also specify your wishes about palliative care which offers comfort, support and adequate pain relief to people who are dying - even if treatment is futile or a life sustaining measure is withheld or withdrawn.
Can I give instructions to my doctor to help me die?No. Euthanasia is illegal. Nobody, including your doctor, may give you anything that is intended to hasten your death or to assist you to hasten your death.
Your doctor can only give treatment that aims to maintain or improve your health and wellbeing. If treatment cannot achieve this, a doctor can lawfully and ethically withdraw or withhold treatment provided this is not inconsistent with good medical practice. This is not euthanasia. In your directive, you can ask to be given only palliative care.
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