Hong Kong’s Advance Decision on Life-sustaining Treatment Ordinance takes effect on Friday, giving patients who are terminally ill the ability to reject certain life-sustaining medical interventions. The law’s passage by Hong Kong’s Legislative Council came in November 2024, and it is scheduled to commence on July 31.
The ordinance is intended to formalize how end-of-life preferences are documented and followed in clinical settings. It focuses on advance decisions made in advance for cases where a patient is later terminally ill, allowing care teams to respect those choices regarding life-sustaining treatment.
Both outlets describe the measure as a shift in how medical staff approach end-of-life care, requiring clinicians to consider the patient’s prior expressed wishes under the legal framework. The impact extends to healthcare professionals’ responsibilities around assessing circumstances, applying the law correctly, and ensuring that decisions align with the statute’s requirements.
Overall, the law marks a new legal basis for treatment refusal in terminal cases and sets expectations for how hospitals and clinicians handle patients’ advance directives.
