31/07/2025
As a final legacy of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, we are pleased to launch a new suite of resources on advance statements, lasting powers of attorney (LPAs), and advance decisions to refuse treatment: https://bioethics.org.uk/advance-decisions/
These new resources are designed to guide users through the ethical and legal dimensions of advance planning of medical treatment, and to make decisions in accordance with Catholic moral teaching about end-of-life care.
Advance statements, lasting powers of attorney (LPAs), and advance decisions to refuse treatment are governed by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in England and Wales. While there is widespread interest in these tools for advance planning, they also represent a complex area of ethics and law which is not always well understood. To date there have been few practical resources designed from a Catholic point-of-view that engage with this subject.
This launch marks the conclusion of a two-year Project on ‘Advance Decisions and Ethical Choices’, which was initiated to fill that gap, which was made possible through generous funding from the Sisters of the Holy Cross Charitable Trust.
The Project’s resources will remain available on the Anscombe Centre’s website. Its dedicated webpage comes with a foreword endorsement from Bishop Paul Mason, the lead bishop for healthcare in England and Wales. Full details may be found here: https://bioethics.org.uk/news-events/news-from-the-centre/press-release-anscombe-bioethics-centre-launches-advance-decisions-and-ethical-choices-project/
