Doctors given 'right to die' guidance

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Doctors given right to die guidance

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The General Medical Council has issued guidelines to help doctors decide when it might be appropriate to withhold or withdraw treatment from a patient.

The guidelines, drawn up by the GMC's standards committee, aimed to provide a legal and ethical framework for medical staff trying to decide, in consultation with the individual and his or her relatives, whether a patient had a right to die.

The guidance follows a High Court ruling in the case of a woman known only as Miss B, who wanted doctors to halt her treatment, although doing so would lead to her death.

The court ruled she was mentally capable, and so had the right to tell doctors to turn her ventilator off. Miss B died peacefully last week, it emerged yesterday.

The spokeswoman said: "The Miss B case is one where the guidelines would be particularly applicable. We have been working on it for some time now and it will go to council in May for final approval."