By the Select Committee appointed to consider the ethical, legal and clinical implications of a person's right to withhold consent to life–prolonging treatment, and the position of persons who are no longer able to give or withhold consent;

and to consider whether and in what circumstances actions that have as their intention or a likely consequence the shortening of another person's life may be justified on the grounds that they accord with that person's wishes or with that person's best interests;

and in all the foregoing considerations to pay regard to the likely effects of changes in law or medical practice on society as a whole.

ORDERED TO REPORT

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

1. Decisions about medical treatment and the end of life are more complicated now than they have ever been. Such decisions are now more frequent, more difficult and more widely debated than in the past.

2. Perhaps the single most important reason for this is the advances in medicine in recent years, and particularly the application of medical technology. As a result patients live longer, where in the past they would have died at an earlier stage of their illnesses. Conditions which not so long ago would have resulted in certain, and fairly swift, death can now be treated and, if not cured, at least held at bay. For many this has resulted in a welcome prolongation of meaningful life, and avoidance of suffering.