Report on Bioethics: Advance Care Directives - Law Reform ...

(other than charges and directions for the payment of any debt ordebts) is given or made by the will to that person or his spouse, thatdevise, bequest, estate, interest, gift, or appointment shall, so far onlyas concerns the person attesting the execution of the will, or thespouse of that person, or any person claiming under that person orspouse, be utterly null and void.‖3.56 The rationale behind this is to avoid undue influence and coercionthat the witness may exercise over the testator. A similar rationale can be seenin the specific context of legislation on advance care directives in other States.3.57 Thus, in Singapore, Section 3(3) of the Advance Medical DirectiveAct 1996 states that the witness who is not the medical practitioner must―(a) not be a beneficiary under the patients will or any policy ofinsurance;(b) have no interest under any instrument which the patient is thedonor, settler or grantor;(c) would not be entitled to an interest in the estate of the patient onthe patient‘s death intestate;(d) would not be entitled to an interest in the moneys of the patientheld in the Central Provident Fund or other provident fund on thedeath of that patient.‖3.58 The Commission has considered the witnessing requirement indetail. On balance, the Commission has decided not to recommend that therebe a specific category of witnesses. While it is preferable that advance caredirectives are witnessed by an independent person, the Commission considersthat to make such a condition mandatory in all situations could result inrendering advance care directives invalid for what may be, in effect, a technicalerror. Such an outcome would not be consistent with the general facilitativepurpose of the proposed legislative framework. In the particular case of anadvance care directive that involves the refusal of life-sustaining treatment, theCommission has, however, concluded that this should be witnessed by at leastone person. It is likely that this could be a health care professional, such as aGP, but the Commission does not consider that this should be mandatory.3.59 The Commission recommends that an advance care directive whichinvolves the refusal of life-sustaining treatment must be witnessed by at leastone person.(3) Age3.60 In the Consultation Paper the Commission noted that while 18 isregarded as the age of majority, section 23(1) of the Non-Fatal OffencesAgainst the Person Act 1997 states that a child aged 16 may consent to medical72