The legal threat to medicine reconsidered.
The paper is concerned, in the main, with selective non-treatment of those incapable of making treatment decisions of their own. It draws attention to the conflict between the law and the medical profession in this field which was predicted some ten years ago and traces the British case law from then until the present day. It concludes that there is no such legal threat to medical practice in Great Britain and that any doubtful practices are currently controlled through the concept of the health care team.
Faculty of Law, University of Edinburgh, UK.
J K
JK
Mason
D005065:Euthanasia / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D016743:Mental Competency; D016312:Treatment Refusal; D006113:United Kingdom; D028761:Withholding Treatment