The Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill aims to increase the number of organs and tissues available for transplant by introducing a soft opt-out system of organ and tissue donation in Wales.
Soutenu par le PS, le PCF et une partie de l'UMP, le texte a été adopté en commission. Les uns y voient une avancée notable, les autres une cause d'inquiétude. La commission des affaires sociales du Sénat a adopté, mardi 18 janvier, une proposition de loi visant à instaurer « un droit à demander une assistance médicale pour mourir » pour les patients en phase terminale. La proposition de loi, qui sera discutée en séance le 25 janvier, a été adoptée par 25 voix contre 19 et 2 abstentions. C'est la première fois qu'un texte autorisant l'euthanasie franchit cette étape parlementaire.
An attempt to change the law in Scotland to help terminally ill people end their lives has been heavily defeated in the Scottish Parliament. The End of Life Assistance Bill was proposed by the MSP Margo MacDonald, who has Parkinson’s disease, but was rejected by 85 votes to 16. It would have made it legal to help someone over the age of 16 years who is terminally ill or permanently incapacitated to take their own life. It follows a detailed examination of the issue by the Scottish parliament, which set up a special committee to investigate the proposal. It took evidence from doctors, religious groups, and legal experts from around the world including Oregon and the Netherlands where physician assisted suicide has been legalised.
These Regulations implement Directive 2001/20/EC on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to the implementation of good clinical practice in the conduct of clinical trials on medicinal products for human use.
SENATE BILL NO. 167 INTRODUCED BY A. BLEWETT A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT ALLOWING A TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT TO REQUEST MEDICATION TO END THE PATIENT'S LIFE; ESTABLISHING PROCEDURES; PROVIDING THE RIGHT TO RESCIND THE REQUEST; PROVIDING DEFINITIONS; PROVIDING IMMUNITY FOR PERSONS PARTICIPATING IN GOOD FAITH COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROCEDURES; PROVIDING RULEMAKING AUTHORITY; AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE."
THE NETHERLANDS AVT00/WS61419A Upper House of the States General 2000 - 2001 session 26 691 Review procedures for the termination of life on request and assisted suicide and amendment of the Criminal Code and the Burial and Cremation Act (Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act) European Journal of Health Law 8: 183-191, 2001.
The NHS Constitution was published on 21 January 2009. It was one of a number of recommendations in Lord Darzi’s report ‘High Quality Care for All’ which was published on the 60th anniversary of the NHS and set out a ten-year plan to provide the highest quality of care and service for patients in England. The NHS belongs to us all. The NHS Constitution brings together in one place for the first time in the history of the NHS, what staff, patients and public can expect from the NHS. As well as capturing the purpose, principles and values of the NHS, the Constitution brings together a number of rights, pledges and responsibilities for staff and patients alike. These rights and responsibilities are the result of extensive discussions and consultations with staff, patients and public and it reflects what matters to them.
WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.
Dignity in Dying has today welcomed MPs' historic decision to back Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) guidelines on assisted suicide, as well as MPs endorsement of further development of end-of-life care via an amendment to the motion. The DPPs guidelines make clear that those who compassionately assist a loved one to die at their request are unlikely to be prosecuted, and that those who maliciously encourage the death of another will feel the full force of the law.
The UK government has quietly dropped a passage in the draft handbook to the NHS constitution that said that ministers had decided to give researchers the right to trawl medical records for research participants without the need for patients’ consent. Organisations that are charged with safeguarding patient confidentiality had objected strongly to a section in the draft handbook that said, "Patients can . . . expect that a health professional or a research professional who owes the same duty of confidentiality as a health professional may use care records, in confidence, to identify whether they are suitable to participate in approved clinical trials. Appropriate patients will be notified of opportunities to join in, and will be free to choose whether they wish to do so, after a full explanation."
In a historic vote in the National Assembly, Quebec has become the first province to legalize doctor-assisted death as part of comprehensive end-of-life legislation. Bill 52, An Act respecting end-of-life care, received broad support on Thursday from nearly 80 per cent of MNAs. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard allowed his caucus to vote according to their conscience. The 22 MNAs who voted against were all Liberals, including 10 cabinet ministers.
Abortion on demand for some women will be legal for the first time in Spain from next July. The controversial law that allows women to have an abortion without restrictions during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy was approved in the Senate last Wednesday by a majority of six votes. Representatives of the Spanish Socialist Party and feminist groups welcomed the law, which was promoted by the socialist government. They described it as a "historic step" in the fight for women’s rights. Spain’s president, José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, said that from now on "it won’t be possible to send women to prison for interrupting their pregnancy." He added that the previous law had been an advance at the time but that "lately it has caused some problems."
The therapeutic use of organs poses certain risks which should be limited by a judicial framework covering all stages of the process from donation to transplantation. The safety and quality of organs should be guaranteed, as should the protection of donors and recipients through the competent authorities. ACT Directive 2010/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on standards of quality and safety of human organs intended for transplantation.
The medical professions are to press the justice secretary, Jack Straw, today to exempt personal medical records from the widespread data-sharing powers in his coroners and justice bill. A letter from eight healthcare organisations states they have "grave concerns" that clause 152 of the bill would grant unprecedented powers to access people's confidential medical records.
The Swiss Government is considering new laws that are likely to make it harder for foreigners to travel to clinics, such as Dignitas, to get help to end their life. Recently the British conductor Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, used the services of Dignitas. Unlike his wife, Sir Edward, 85, did not have a terminal illness. In June the Swiss justice minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, announced that two different draft pieces of legislation would be considered in parliament this autumn. "One is a complete ban on assisted suicide, and one is the introduction of stricter, clearer legislation," she said. Currently it is legal in Switzerland to assist in a suicide unless it can be proved that the assistant has a selfish motive. Opinion polls have always shown that about two thirds of the population have a liberal attitude towards self determined death. But the Swiss are opposed to commercial assisted suicide and the cost to the nation of investigating cases.
On 25 February, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, launched the Policy for Prosecutors in respect of cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide.
The Handbook to the NHS Constitution is here to give NHS staff and patients all the information you need about the NHS Constitution in one place. It acts as a guide to: - patients’ rights and pledges - responsibilities of patients and the public and staff - staff rights and NHS pledges to its staff At the back of this Handbook is an appendix, which outlines the legal source for both the patient and staff rights in the NHS Constitution.
The new parenthood provisions set out in Part 2 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 have been attacked as dangerous and radical, offering a 'lego-kit model of family life' and a 'magical mystery tour' in how legal fatherhood is to be determined. In this paper, we explain what is innovative about these new provisions but also explore what they owe to deep-rooted traditional assumptions about the family. Relying both on published documentation relating to this reform process and a small number of key actor interviews, we trace the imprint of what Fineman has described as the 'sexual family' model on the provisions. We conclude that the way that parenthood is framed within the legislation relies on a number of important normative assumptions which received very little scrutiny in this process. We also highlight a number of tensions within this framing which, we suggest, may create future problems for judicial determination.
These Regulations define "NHS body" and "serious medical treatment" for the purposes of certain provisions the Mental Capacity Act 2005 ("the Act") which deal with independent mental capacity advocates ("IMCAs"). The Regulations also contain provision as to who can be appointed to act as an IMCA and as to an IMCA's functions when he has been instructed to represent a person in a particular case. The provisions about the IMCA's appointment and functions apply where the IMCA is instructed under sections 37 to 39 of the Act or under regulations made by virtue of section 41 of the Act (see regulation 2(2)).
The number of patients in Israel who die while waiting for a transplant rose last year, and the number of transplantations fell by 20%, the annual report of the Ministry of Health’s National Transplant and Organ Donation Centre has said. As a result the shortage of organs has become more acute. Rafi Biar, chairman of the centre’s steering committee and director of the Rambam Medical Centre in Haifa, said that the main cause of the decrease is a new law that changed the protocol for defining “brain death” after discussions with the Chief Rabbinate. According to Jewish law death can be determined only after cardiopulmonary failure, and until recently the Chief Rabbinate had prohibited organ donation, as it did not recognise brain stem death. However, in 2008 the Israeli parliament passed a law that defines “brain respiratory” death as an indication of death for all legal purposes and also outlined the procedure that should be carried out to ensure that death had occurred.
MONTPELIER. Vt. -- The Vermont House voted Monday night to give the last vote of approval to a bill that would make the state the first to legalize physician-aided suicide by legislation. With a 75-65 vote, the bill goes to Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, who supports the measure and is expected to sign it into law. "It's an important step of terminally ill Vermont patients," said Dick Walters of Shelburne, Vt., president of Patient Choices Vermont. Walters has worked for the legislation for 10 years.
Wales has moved a step closer to being the first part of the United Kingdom to introduce an opt-out scheme for organ donation. A proposed legislative competence order (a form of secondary legislation) relating to organ and tissue donation has been laid before the Welsh Assembly. The aim of the order is to transfer specific powers from the UK parliament to the assembly in relation to consent to organ donation. It would allow Welsh ministers to introduce a system of presumed consent to organ donation. Edwina Hart, the assembly’s minister for health, said, “We would do that in order to increase the number of potential organs available for transplantation.