Futile choices: Wooing doctors to acknowledge the law in Queensland.
End-of-life decision-making continues to challenge health care providers, patients, families, regulators and judges. The Queensland State Coroner's findings in the 2009 inquest into the death of June Woo resulted in a submission from concerned clinicians to the Queensland Law Reform Commission's review of the State's guardianship regime, claiming that the judgment held problematic implications for future practice. This column summarises the State Coroner's findings and recommendations, and critically analyses the clinical response, focusing on consent requirements that, while peculiar to Queensland, illustrate continuing tensions surrounding decision-making conflicts at the end of life.
School of Medicine, University of Queensland. m.parker@uq.edu.au
Malcolm
M
Parker
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D007872:Legal Guardians / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D016134:Organizational Policy; D016414:Resuscitation Orders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*