A fight over wording in the legislature yesterday stopped the long-discussed passage of a euthanasia bill.
"The law cannot suppose that all the families are harmonious and really respect the last will and testament of patients," said KMT lawmaker Liu Kuang-hua (
Liu said that inexact wording of Article 7 of the draft bill could make it possible for the family of a terminally ill patient to change the terms of the will of their relative.
According to Article 7, when patients with terminal illnesses lose consciousness or otherwise go into a coma, family members may make the decision whether or not to let their relative die.
Though the article stipulates that the family's wishes must not contradict the last will and testament of the patient or the wishes expressed while still conscious, Liu insists that the words should be clearer.
Yesterday's failure caused strong discontent among concerned medical professionals. They appealed to the lawmakers to pass the bill as soon as possible for the sake of patients' human rights.
A number of lawmakers and medical professionals have been advocating the bill since 1986.
Chen Rong-chi (陳榮基), superintendent of En Chu Kong Hospital, told a story to try to convince the lawmakers. He said 10 years ago one doctor felt sympathetic to a terminal patient's pain and accepted his request not to give him CPR (Cardi Pulmonary Resuscitation, 心肺復甦術) if he lost consciousness.
However, the family of the patient charged the doctor for failing to save the patient. From then on, Chen told all his interns "not to sympathize with patients and always administer CPR."
"Never stop -- even if you break a patient's ribs during CPR," he said.
Chen said the current law compels doctors to resuscitate patients.
"We need a law both to respect the patients' wills and doctors' judgment," said Andrew Young (
"CPR is not only useless for patients with terminal diseases, but it aggravates the pain they suffer. It's a miserable way to die."
According to Young, around 100,000 people die of chronic diseases every year, including 30,000 from cancer.
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