ABSTRACT
Less effective is the provision of an Advance Decision to refuse treatment, since it is very difficult to anticipate the details of one's eventual deterioration. Some citizens set out their wishes and feelings in an advance statement, with no lawyer in sight; this can be on paper or online, with the aspiration that it may one day join the much vaunted electronic record. Since advance statements are essentially a narrative of one's wishes, beliefs and feelings, they can in theory be very powerful. The court found that in many ‘oblique and tangential ways’, TH had over many years communicated his views to his friends in an uncompromising and blunt fashion, eradicating any lingering doubt that he would wish to continue his life in his present circumstances. The judge was certain that TH would want to leave hospital and end his days quietly and with dignity at home with his friends.
