Living Wills
Every adult with mental capacity has the right to agree to or refuse medical treatment. To make sure that your advance wishes are clear you can use a Living Will.
Living Wills can include general statements about your wishes and specific refusals of treatment called 'advanced decisions' or 'advance directives'.
A general written statement (sometimes called an 'advance statement') can set out which treatments you feel you would or would not like to receive should you lose mental capacity in the future.
Health professionals have to take them into account when deciding on a course of action. Family and friends can also use them as evidence of your wishes. You can also make your views known verbally, for example, when discussing treatment with a health care professional but it is our advice that they should be formally recorded in a Living Will.
Your statement might include treatments:
- that you are happy to have, and in what circumstances, no matter how ill you are; and
- those you prefer not to have, and in what circumstances.
You can also appoint someone you would like to be consulted about your treatment at the time a decision needs to be made called a ‘Health Care Proxy’.
Your Living Will can also include a specific refusal of treatment.
If writing an advance statement, bear in mind that new drugs or treatments may be introduced in the future. So you could, for example, state that you would prefer not to receive certain current treatments but would allow for new treatments.
You can still make a Living Will if you are diagnosed with a mental illness, as long as you can show that you understand the implications of what you are doing, i.e. mental capacity. You need to be competent to make the decision in question, not necessarily to make other decisions.
For the avoidance of all doubt you should also consider making a note of:-
- why you've made your decision about how you do or don't want to be treated
- what you understand about the treatment you're agreeing to or refusing and
- why you're making these decisions now
It’s important that your Living Will is entered into your medical notes so that in an emergency it is found and acted upon. Consider sending a copy to your GP (and meeting to discuss the Living Will with your GP), to any hospital which is treating you and to your nearest relatives.
Consider reviewing your Living Will on a regular basis to make sure you're happy with it and particularly if your situation changes.
You can change or cancel your Living Will while you have mental capacity.
Please call or email one of the solicitors in the Wealth and Estate Planning team to arrange a meeting to discuss your Living Will.