The ROC Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee passed preliminary review of amendments to the Hospice and Palliative Care Act Dec. 10 allowing terminally ill patients to choose between hospice care and life support.
The revised act clearly defines hospice care as the provision of palliative and supportive medication to relieve physical pain, psychological distress and spiritual suffering, while life support refers to implementing medical measures that prolong a patient’s life, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
Ruling Kuomintang Legislator Yang Yu-hsin, who proposed the revisions, said a change in the law relaxing conditions for halting cardiopulmonary resuscitation or removing life support is a big breakthrough. Now all that would be required is a signed letter of consent from the patient or one close family member if the patient is incapable of expressing consent.
Legally, close family members are, in order of priority, the spouse, adult children, grandchildren, parents, siblings, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-grandchildren, collateral relatives by blood and immediate in-laws, she explained.
According to current regulations, CPR and life support can only be discontinued when two physicians have declared the patient terminally ill and the patient has signed a letter of consent.
In addition, the amended act stipulates that the Department of Health should note the letter of consent on the back of a patient’s National Health Insurance card. (KML-THN)