Doctors fear turning off a patient’s pacemaker risks murder charge

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Ethical questions: When should a doctor turn off a pacemaker?

Ethical questions: When should a doctor turn off a pacemaker? Photo: AFP

Doctors are calling for Australians with pacemakers to write clear instructions about the circumstances in which they would like them switched off in case they want doctors to help them die at some point in the future.

While doctors have long been making decisions to withdraw ”life support” measures for people in circumstances where the care is futile or the patient does not want to live with extreme disability, they say increasing requests for people’s pacemakers to be turned off raise difficult ethical questions and may even expose them to criminal charges of murder, manslaughter or assisted suicide.

A leading intensive care specialist from Newcastle, Peter Saul, said one technician at his hospital refused to turn off a dying woman’s pacemaker at her daughter’s request because he feared being accused of killing the woman in potentially unethical or illegal circumstances.

When that happened, Dr Saul was called to assess the request which involved an elderly woman who had suffered a series of infections over months. He said the woman, who had pneumonia and was suffering breathlessness and bed sores, had lost a lot of weight and was very drowsy.