Your Right to Treatment …. the use and misuse of the R E S P E C T form

A Joint Meeting of the Catholic Medical Association and the Medical Ethics Alliance on Saturday 26th. March,   was well attended. The speaker was Dr Adrian Farrell.

                                     ” The use and misuse of the ReSPECT form.

Many Trusts are now using this form.  It stands for.. “Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment.”

Patients with mental  capacity, can make choices about their future treatment.

 If accompanied by a unhurried, thoughtful and accurate understanding of their illness it can empower patients.

Where a decision is made to not attempt cardio pulmonary resuscitation ( DNACPR ),  higher legal requirements apply. 

The tick box approach , which the form makes can be deleterious to proper medical care and may be open to challenge.

At worse, some patients lives may be undervalued. “

All Welcome