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02/10/2009
'Living will' stopped doctors helping suicide victim |
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Doctors did not intervene in the case of a young woman who had taken an overdose because she had written a 'living will' asking that no action be taken to save her life, it has been revealed.
Kerrie Woolterton, who was 26, wrote the document in September 2007 in the presence of a solicitor shortly before taking poison and a coroner has ruled that doctors at the Norfolk and Norwich hospital acted correctly in upholding her wishes.
The law now assumes that a mentally competent person can refuse to have treatment.
Consultant renal physician at the hospital Dr Alexander Heaton told the inquest he knew treating Ms Woolterton would have meant breaking the law and added: "I think she would have asked, 'What do I have to do to tell you what my wishes are?"
Such a case may have implications for will drafting and the legal force such a document has.
The issue comes shortly after the government provided new guidelines over the circumstances in which someone may or may not be prosecuted for helping a person commit assisted suicide in a country where the practice is legal.
Written by Anna Norton
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