Medical-Legal Analysis on the Previous Instructions («Living Will») in Spain

Abstract

The current situation in Spain is very similar to that of United States at the beginning of the nineties: a great legislative development of the previous instructions (premature wills), but little real installation of the same ones, neither in the sanitary world nor in the citizenship in general. Therefore the risk of making the same errors is high.

The possible legislative hipertrofia national and autonomic, is highly focused on the bureaucratic procedure around the written documents of previous instructions, this can cloud us and not allow us to see that these should only be tools to the service of overall proposes as those which the Premature planning of Decisions proposes. The recent experience of the installation of the Informed Consent that is limited in most of the occasions to the simple attempt to get the patients to sign the forms, should be an effective vaccine to avoid the temptation of making the same thing with the previous instructions.

In Spain there is no tradition in the use of Previous Instructions, for what seems logical that the current investigation on both theory and practice is scarce, but for certain exceptions. For that reason the objective of this article is to deepen and to investigate on such a relevant topic, as it is the taking of decisions at the end of life which not only applies the sanitary professionals but to all in general.