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New Manual Offers Guidance on Legal Aspects of Palliative Care

Date:
July 1, 2009

Life-limiting illness can mean pain and stress for patients and families. For many people, legal issues arise that further erode their health and quality of life. Legal services can help deal with these practical concerns and alleviate stress.

Legal Aspects of Palliative Care is a groundbreaking new manual that provides guidance on legal and human rights issues for patients and their families, as well as health care and legal professionals.

This manual gives caregivers critical information on legal assistance for patients—and it directs them how to find it. It also provides information for legal practitioners to enhance their understanding of palliative care and to extend their services to patients.

The manual includes information, case studies, and resources on the following topics:

  • Palliative care as a human rights issue
  • Ethical concerns in palliative care
  • Legal requirements for palliative care organizations
  • Challenges in accessing care and medication
  • Poverty and financial issues, including debt
  • Rights of children and young people
  • Palliative care for older persons and vulnerable groups such as refugees
  • The role and status of community caregivers
  • Estate planning and other end-of-life legal formalities

In addition, the authors offer guidance on developing policies and laws that can improve palliative care and protect the human rights of people with life-limiting illness. The manual aims to integrate this knowledge into the provision of high-quality palliative care and legal services.

South African Supreme Court Justice Edwin Cameron recommends the manual as “a practical reference guide for use in palliative care services and legal practice.”

A unique collaboration between the medical and legal professions in South Africa, the manual offers valuable information that can be applied worldwide. It was produced by Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa with support from the Public Health Program of the Open Society Institute and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa.

Electronic copies of the manual and individual chapters are available at the Hospice Palliative Care Association website.

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