The Minister of Health conveyed that the law end of life it will not be adopted without extensive consultation with physicians, professional societies and religious denominations to ensure a dignified and well-founded approach to terminally ill care.
The Minister of Health conveyed that the law will not be adopted without extensive consultations with doctors, professional societies and representatives of religious cults, given the extreme sensitivity of the subject.
“It is a difficult field, which cannot be done by one person or an isolated group. It is a package that Romania needs”the minister declared on ProTV. He explained that there is already a working group at the level of the College of Physicians, in collaboration with the Romanian Society of Anesthesia-Intensive Therapy, the People’s Advocate and the European Society of Anesthesia.
Discussions about the law “end of life” were rekindled after the case at the Saint Pantelimon Hospital, where two female doctors are being investigated for medical maneuvers that would have led to the death of several patients. In this context, the minister warns that the topic can be easily speculated or politicized, distorting the medical act.
According to him, the future legislative framework will be based on a clear vision of terminal patient care, which will be subject to a wide public debate. Consultations will begin this year, but the process will not be rushed.
“I am waiting for the main objectives and visions of what terminal patient care means. We will put those visions in a broad public debate, which will start with all professional health societies, because all specialties come into contact with such a complex patient at some point. Then we will have a consultation with the area of religious cults, because here we are discussing more than the area of terminal patient care, we are discussing human dignity. It is a difficult area, an area that cannot be done by a person, it cannot be the prerogative of an isolated group, it is a package that Romania needs. Caring for the terminal patient does not mean stopping the devices or not administering vital treatments. It is a dignified approach for a patient for whom, from a medical point of view, nothing can be done.”the minister specified, adding that human dignity must be the central principle of the future law.
