Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province has recently passed a regulation on a person's "right to die," making it the first city in the Chinese mainland to allow critically ill patients to refuse "excessive life-saving treatment".
According to the revised medical regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, if a patient doesn't want medical staff to "perform unnecessary resuscitation," the hospital should respect that wish and allow the patient to die peacefully.
A "right to die" or DNR order is a document that a person signs in advance, while conscious and aware, specifying what kind of medical care he or she wants or does not want at the end of an incurable illness, said the regulation.
Observers noted that it is a major breakthrough in China's medical legislation and will help promote the concept of "dying with dignity" in the whole society.
When patients enter the final stage of life, they may undergo unnecessary suffering when rescue and resuscitation efforts are carried out. With the introduction of the DNR order, a dilemma that has long plagued dying patients and their families will finally be solved.