Since 2005 significant changes have been made to legislation around end-of-life care.  These changes have given patients new rights and choices to control what happens to them at the end of life. 

Your rights

Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, adults with mental capacity have new statutory rights to:

• refuse medical treatment, including life-sustaining treatment, in advance

• nominate someone to make treatment decisions on their behalf

Compassion in Dying provides free Advance Decisions - formerly called living wills - which are legally-binding documents that patients can use to specify their treatment wishes in advance. 

Click here for more information about Advance Decisions.

Your choices

In 2008 the Department of Health's End of Life Care Strategy made the following recommendations for good end-of-life care:

• individuals' preferences and choices will be accommodated wherever possible;
• health teams must consider choices such as dying at home.

The End of Life Care Strategy does not provide people with legal rights.

This section contains information about the rights and choices you have as a patient to make sure that your treatment choices are respected, where you can receive care and who can provide it and how to get the information you need to make informed decisions about your end-of-life care.

The Guide to Your Rights at the End of Life covers patient rights and choices under the Mental Capacity Act and the End of Life Care Strategy.

Click here to read the Guide to Your Rights at the End of Life.

If you would like more information, Factsheets are available on the following topics:

• Advance Decisions
• Lasting Powers of Attorney
• The Mental Capacity Act
• Summary Care Records

Click here to view the Factsheets.