Victorian Government’s position paper in relation to advance care plans

The Victorian Government have released a position paper entitled ‘Simplifying medical treatment decision making and advance care planning’ in response to its commitment to give statutory recognition to advance care directives. The paper can be found at https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/hospitals-and-health-services/patient-care/end-of-life-care/advance-care-planning As many of you would appreciate, an advance care plan is used to set out a person’s wishes and values in terms of future treatment in the event that they have lost their decision-making capacity. It sets out a plan for future health care in the event that the individual can no longer participate in the decision-making process surrounding their treatment.

The paper provides information in relation to the proposed legislative framework to apply to advance care directives. Feedback on the paper is invited and closes at 4pm on 29 July 2016.

Post by Karen Kumar and Cameron Leaver