Regulating Medical End-of-life decisions

The theme for this conference is 'The Limits of the Law'. In the conference call for papers, some questions that were raised including questions of whether it is appropriate or possible to regulate in the area of health law, and whether 'laws can be flexible but still effective?' Medical end-of-life decisions have been the subject of varying degrees of regulation ranging from 'Natural Death' type legislation that is intended to give effect to people's wishes as they approach the end of life, to the more comprehensive 'Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act 1995 (SA)' and our only experiment with euthanasia in the 'Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 (NT)'. All of these attempts to regulate medical end-of-life decisions have had their limitations, both in the types of decisions that they regulate, and the degree of intrusion into the doctor/patient relationship.