Acceptance or refusal of medical treatments: The legalization of living wills in the Philippines

• Main Authors: Chua, Michelle H., Reyes, Izah Katrina T., Sy, Annaisa Y.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2005
• Subjects: Living wills > Philippines; Medical ethics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/10134
• Institution: De La Salle University

A living will is a witnessed document in writing, voluntarily executed by the principal expressing the principal's instructions concerning life prolonging procedures also refereed to as the life support system. A living will shall be presented to the attending physician in case the patient is in a permanent vegetative state. A living will governs the acceptance or withdrawal of life support system in case of a patient under the permanent vegetative state and the latter has become the subject of public interest in the Philippines. Many Filipinos perceive the withdrawal of life support system as euthanasia but these two concepts are different. Euthanasia is undoubtedly unacceptable and elicit while the legality of the withdrawal of life support system will be discussed in this paper.