Hongkongers to draft end-of-life treatment refusals online from next year

Hong Kong’s eHealth record platform is set to introduce an electronic service for advance medical directives (AMDs) beginning next year. This digital system will allow residents to create, store, and revoke AMDs, which outline life-sustaining treatments they do not wish to receive when terminally ill. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han stated that these electronic directives will hold the same legal force as their existing paper counterparts.

A key distinction in this phased rollout is that while AMDs are moving to the eHealth platform, do-not-attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNR) orders will continue to be managed in hard copy. This indicates a specific scope for the initial digitization, focusing on broader treatment refusal directives rather than all end-of-life instructions.

The introduction of this service follows consultations with various government units, including the Health Bureau, to designate eHealth as the official electronic system for these directives. The phased implementation suggests a measured approach to integrating such critical legal documents into the city’s digital health infrastructure, aiming to ensure reliability and legal compliance.