Dying Patient Act – What Does the Future Hold?

Background: The "Dying Patient Law" enact in Israel in December 2005 and came into force in 2006. This advanced law regularizes the medical treatment for those end stage patients that are considered to be "dying patients". The law gives each adult person the opportunity to give orders as for what shall be done with him when he becomes "Dying Patient", including prevention of treatment and of food and water. Objective: To examine the knowledge of the public regards their rights according to the law and the implemintation of this law in the israeli health system,. The methods were: 1. Questionnaire of 500 citizens about their knowledge on their rights and about their attittudes towards treatment in this period of life. In these interviews we expect to see differences between religious and non-religious people and between nations Jews and Arabs. 2. In depth interviews with key leaders in the Israeli Health Care System and qualitative research methods in order to examine the implemintation of this law in medical institutions. Results: The implementation of this law is very poor and many people do not know about their rights. Moreover, many caregivers are not aware of their duty to treat people according to the law's principles. The situation of dying patient includes emotional fillings, fear and tension; therefore, we can't treat this situation as routine, we should consider all aspects such as medical, ethical, social, cultural, economical and religions.