DO GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS KNOW WHEN LIVING WILLS ARE LEGAL

Background: There is growing public awareness of living wills or advan ce directives. Patients who wish to make advance directives may approa ch general practitioners (GPs) for advice. However, many GPs are unawa re of the correct legal status of living wills. Methods: Questionnaire s were sent to 270 GPs in London and Winchester, asking seven question s about the current legal status of living wills. Results: Of the 214 GPs (79%) who returned questionnaires, only 104 (49%) were aware that some types of advance directives could carry legal force. Many of the GPs who did know that living wills could be legally binding were unabl e correctly to answer further questions on the practicalities of the l aw; for example, 26% were wrong in believing that a lawyer had to draw up a living will, and 13% incorrectly believed that a doctor was lega lly required to give any treatment requested by a patient in a living will. Conclusions: Half of the GPs surveyed were unaware that living w ills currently have legal force and most of the rest were unaware of i mportant details of the law. More attention needs to be given to the e ducation of doctors in this area.