It has taken over a year since the law was passed, but Portugal’s director general of health Francisco George announced last week that a new system to allow citizens to register “living wills” will be in place by the beginning of next year.
The RENTEV, Registo Nacional do Testamento Vital, will mean that anyone will be able to walk into a health centre and be seen by staff specially trained to process people’s “dying wishes”.
The law, passed in September last year, means people can spell things out categorically before finding themselves in a position where they might not be free or able to do so.
In theory, mechanisms to register living wills have been in place for some time – however, as Rosalvo Almeida, a retired doctor and member of the National and Ethics Committee for Science and Life, told Público newspaper, the costs involved, of around €100, saw few people taking the option up. There was also the problem of no real database for living wills.
This will all change now, so that the medical care wishes of the dying will be easily accessible on patient records, no matter where they may be when they need them.
Francisco George explained that at “any moment” a citizen can alter his or her living will, simply by going once again to a health centre, and handing in new written authorisation which will then be entered into the health service database (Plataforma de Dados da Saúde).
Sérgio Deodato, a nurse and member of the ethics commission, warned that even when living wills have been registered, health professionals shouldn’t limit themselves to simply “following orders”. They should check that there hasn’t been a change in circumstances, he told Público newspaper.
The new law, Lei nº 25/2012, stipulates that living wills should run for a period of five years from the time they are signed.
