Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 257:

In page 65, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:“Effect of advance healthcare directive

59.(1) A specific refusal of treatment set out in an advance healthcare directive is as effective as if made contemporaneously by the directive-maker when he or she had capacity to make that decision.

(2) (a) Nothing in this Part shall be construed as imposing any civil or criminal liability on a healthcare professional who has complied, or purportedly complied, with a specific refusal of treatment set out in an advance healthcare directive and who, at the time in question, had reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, that the refusal was valid and applicable.

(b) Nothing in this Part shall be construed as imposing any civil or criminal liability on a healthcare professional who has not complied with a specific refusal of treatment set out in an advance healthcare directive who, at the time in question, had reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, that the refusal was not valid or applicable, or both.

(3) Nothing in this Part shall be construed as imposing any civil or criminal liability on a healthcare professional who has, at the time in question, not acted in compliance with an advance healthcare directive if—

(a) he or she had, at that time, no grounds to believe that the directive existed, or

(b) if he or she had, at that time, grounds to believe that the directive existed but—

(i) had no immediate access to the directive or its contents, and

(ii) the urgency of the medical condition of the directive-maker was such that the healthcare professional could not reasonably delay taking appropriate medical action until he or she did have such access.

(4) Nothing in this Part shall be construed as affecting any civil or criminal liability of a person that might otherwise arise under the common law or an enactment (other than this Act) as a result of a failure to comply with a valid and applicable advance healthcare directive.

(5) Nothing in this Part shall to be taken to affect—

(a) the law relating to murder or manslaughter, or

(b) the operation of section 2 of the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993.”.