Objective, Coverage and Learning Outcomes:
This 2-day workshop will enhance participants’ understanding of the law and practice of advance directives.
Workshop 1, “Advance Directives Across Asia”, will begin with a general discussion about advance directives, which will then be followed by an extended discussion on Asian perspectives to advance directives. Audience members are encouraged to raise questions and issues for discussion with panel members based on the content of the pre-recorded videos.
Workshop 2, “Advance Directives in Hong Kong”, will focus on advance directives in Hong Kong, covering both legal and medical perspectives, as well as the recent legislative proposal on advance directives. Audience members are encouraged to raise questions and issues for discussion with panel members based on the content of the pre-recorded videos.
Programme & Speakers: click here
Video recording of Workshop 1 (Click here for full screen view):
Video recording of Workshop 2: (Click here for full screen view):
Slides of Mr Alex Ruck Keene: “The HK legislative proposal for ADs – an English response“
Programme Booklet: click here
About the Workshop:
Advance directives are generally regarded as an important practice that enable a person’s autonomy to continue to be respected after s/he loses capacity, by providing a mechanism by which his/her wishes and values can continue to determine care and treatment decisions, particularly towards the end of life.
Much of the writing in this area has come from or focused on jurisdictions in Europe and the Americas, many of which have detailed and well-implemented regulatory regimes for advance directives. By comparison, legal regulation in Asia is relatively simplistic (if not non-existent), and tends to be conservative in its scope. The reasons for this are poorly understood, but it is conceivable that the principle of respect for individual autonomy is not accorded the same primacy in these jurisdictions as it is in Western jurisdictions. Instead, a host of other value commitments occupy equally, if not more important, positions in the constellation of values espoused by Asian jurisdictions.
It is precisely this clash between the mechanism of the advance directive, which is inherently an individually-focused form of decision-making grounded in the person’s own wishes, and the more communitarian, familial models of decision-making common to Asian jurisdictions, which is of interest to us. How do Asian jurisdictions approach a practice which views autonomy as sacrosanct – do they endorse this view, or do they attempt to modify it? If so, how? What are the tensions that arise when the regulation and practice of advance directives sits alongside the fundamentally important role of the family? Are there any internal inconsistencies within the laws themselves?
This 2-day workshop will take a comparative look at the law and practice of advance decision-making in healthcare across 15 jurisdictions in Asia, with one workshop focusing on reform in Hong Kong. This project is a particularly timely one in light of recent developments in Asian jurisdictions. Hong Kong has just undergone a public consultation regarding the regulation of advance directives, as a first step towards the codification of the common law position that it currently follows. This is but one of several recent attempts in Asia to address the issue (see, for example, Korea and Taiwan), and it appears that the advance directive is beginning to receive more traction in Asian jurisdictions.
Jurisdictions covered:
Hong Kong
Mainland China
Taiwan
Macau
Japan
South Korea
Singapore
Malaysia
Philippines
Thailand
India
Iran
Israel
Turkey
Russia
Organiser:
Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, The University of Hong Kong
In collaboration with
The Law Society of Hong Kong
Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, the United Kingdom
Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford, the United Kingdom
Continuing Medical Education (CME) Accreditation:
Click here
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Accreditation (by the Law Society of Hong Kong):
Workshop 1: 30 Sep 2020, 4pm – 6pm (HK Time): 2 CPD points
Workshop 2: 2 Oct 2020, 4pm – 6pm (HK Time): 2 CPD points
Fees: free of charge
Level: Elementary (no prior knowledge/ experience required)
Target Audience: Legal professionals, healthcare professionals and anyone who is interested
Viewing of pre-recorded videos:
Registrants are strongly encouraged to view, prior to the live workshops, a number of pre-recorded video presentations on Advance Directives. The videos lay out key points regarding the law and practice of Advance Directives in the jurisdictions covered by the workshops, and our time in the workshops will be focused on questions and panel discussion of the content. The videos are available to registrants only.
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