Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.09.1977, Blaðsíða 27

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3. Observing that sick persons may find it difficult to defend
their own interests, especially when undergoing treatment in
large hospitals;
4. Considering that recently it has become generally agreed that
doctors should in the first place respect the will of the sick
persons with regard to the treatment the person concerned has
to undergo;
5. Being of the opinion that the right to personal dignity and
integrity, to information and proper care should be clearly de-
fined and granted to every person;
6. Convinced that the duty of the medical profession is to serve
mankind, to protect health, to treat sickness and injury, and to
relieve suffering, with respect for human life and the human per-
son, and convinced that the prolongation of life should not in
itself constitute the exclusive aim of medical practice, which
must be concemed equally with the relief of suffering;
7. Considering that the doctor must make every effort to allevi-
ate suffering and that he has no right, even in cases which ap-
pear to him to be desperate, intentionally to hasten the natural
course of death;
8. Emphasising that the prolongation of life by artificial means
depends to a large extent on factors such as the availability of
efficient equipment and that doctors working in hospitals where
the technical equipment permits a particularly long prolongation
of life are often in a delicate position as far as the continua-
tion of the treatment is concemed, especially in cases where
all cerebal functions of a person have irreversibly ceased;
9.1nsisting that doctors shall act in accordance with science and
approved medical experience, and that no doctor or other member
of the medical profession may be compelled to act contrary to the
dictates of his own conscience in relation to the right of the
sick not to suffer unduly;
10. Recommends that the Conmittee of Ministers invite the govem-
ments of the member states:
I.a. to take all necessary action, particularly with respect to
the training of medical personnel and the organisation of medical
services, to ensure that all sick persons, whether in hospital or
in their own homes, receive relief of their suffering as effec-
tive as the current state of medical knowledge pennits;
b. to impress upon doctors that the sick have a right of full
infonration, if they request it, on their illness and the pro-
posed treatment, and to take action to see that special informa-
tion is given when entering hospital as regards the routine,