Tokimoto

  Recently, the 10th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress voted to pass the revised draft of the "Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Medical Regulations", in which Article 78 made a bold breakthrough in the "end-of-life decision-making power", stipulating that if the patient has a pre-diagnosis Instructing "don't do unnecessary rescue", the hospital should respect its wishes and let the patient pass the last time in peace.

As a result, Shenzhen has become the first region in the country to implement the legislation of living wills.

  Living wills are written into local regulations, which is a great boon for dying patients who cannot bear the pain of excessive rescue.

As patients enter the final stages of life, personal wishes are difficult to express and even more difficult to respect.

Especially when various catheters are inserted into the patient's body, the opportunity for the patient to speak and communicate is lost, and it is almost impossible to express his thoughts. Even if the patient is in great pain due to excessive rescue, he can only passively endure it until the end of his life.

With a living will, it is different. Patients can make arrangements in advance whether to adopt traumatic rescue measures such as intubation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and whether to use a life support system.

Living wills are legally enforceable, and there is no fear that doctors and family members will change them at will.

  A problem that has long plagued the families of dying patients is expected to be resolved from now on.

Even though the old man is dying, if the children do not "do their best to rescue", they are afraid of leaving regrets for themselves, and they will blame themselves "it was me who killed the old man";

If the elderly has multiple children, the children who advocate "giving up rescue" may be criticized by other children.

Affected by this, excessive rescue, or even "not giving up until the end" has become a common phenomenon.

With decisions made by patients themselves and backed by the law, families no longer face a dilemma.

  Before his death, he was instructed to enter the law, and the doctor also took a reassuring pill.

In recent years, relevant parties have been vigorously promoting living wills. For example, the Beijing Living Wills Promotion Association is widely known in the industry. The "My Five Wishes" launched by its Choice and Dignity website have been filled out by more than 50,000 people in China.

However, civil advocacy has no legal effect. Once the patient's relatives object to this, medical institutions and doctors may face civil tort claims or administrative penalties from the competent authorities. The huge risk makes doctors afraid to make decisions.

Through legislation, after the living will has legal effect, doctors will no longer have to worry about making choices under the legal framework.

  At the same time, we must also see that there is still a long way to go before the perfection and popularization of living wills.

Living will involves many legal and medical professional concepts, and it is difficult for patients to understand. Before signing a living will, patients should be provided with professional guidance and services.

Whether traumatic rescue is worth implementing, and how to assess damage and benefits, etc., should also improve the operating norms and make them follow the rules.

Pre-living wills must also be avoided maliciously. For example, the medical expenses for hospice rescue are very large, and health commercial insurance must beware of exaggerating the role of pre-living wills, and so on.

  Pre-existing wills relieve the suffering of patients, reduce medical waste, and make the death of the elderly change from "life and death regret" to "life and death peace".

When the society voluntarily advocates and patients fight for their own dignity to die facing great legal risks, through legislative empowerment, the patient's right to make decisions on end-of-life rescue has the most reliable guarantee.

  Living wills are written into local regulations for the first time, and the relevant rules need to be further matured and improved, but as long as there are more explorers and the exploration time is long, the experience will be accumulated day by day, and finally a scientific model for living wills will be created, and the living wills will be made It has been widely popularized, giving patients the right to choose end-of-life rescue methods, and can die with less pain and dignity.