Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/18
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang and Kuo Chung-han
Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Friday passed a patient
Legislators Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇, left), Yang Yu-hsin (楊玉欣, center)
self-determination act, giving patients in Taiwan the right to stop treatment in five clinical situations at the end of their lives.
The five clinical conditions to which the law applies are terminal patients; patients with irreversible comas; patients in a persistent vegetative state; patients with advanced dementia; and patients with other conditions categorized as incurable.
The act, said to be the first in its kind in Asia, will be promulgated three years after its announcement, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
The act stipulates that the patient can decide in advance or after consultations with doctors to refuse end-of-life care when facing the five conditions. [FULL STORY]
