‘Check emails to see if your sick loved one wants to die’

DOCTORS have advised relatives of desperately ill patients to trawl through their emails and Facebook posts to check whether they want to die.

Guidelines from the British Medical Association said old messages could indicate whether someone would prefer not to live on with a disease or injury that leaves them unable to speak. An email or web post could lead to medics turning off life-support machines.

The BMA guidance follows a test case in which a judge in the British High Court said a 74-year-old woman in a coma should be allowed to die because of an email she sent. The woman’s daughter produced a message, referring to her father who had dementia, stating: ‘Get the pillow ready if I get that way.’

The suggestion to families to search emails, Facebook and other social media messages is contained in BMA guidance on what to do if a close relative is desperately ill. Last night it was branded ‘ill-judged’ by a doctors’ group which opposes euthanasia and ‘mercy killing’.

The row follows a UK Supreme Court ruling last year that doctors no longer need to ask a judge for permission to remove food and liquid tubes that keep an incapacitated patient alive. The decision can now be taken by doctors in consultation with families. The advice from the BMA tells families they have ‘a formal role to play in decision-making’ about the withdrawal of ‘clinically assisted nutrition and hydration’.