Shenzhen Codifies Living Wills, Giving Terminally Ill Patients More Rights

Hospitals in the southern city of Shenzhen will be required to respect patients’ wishes in carrying out end-of-life medical treatment, as an amendment to local medical regulations was approved in late June, giving people greater autonomy over how they die.

Shenzhen has become the first place in China to incorporate the living will in local legislation, ensuring that hospitals take patients’ written or recorded wills into consideration when treating them for terminal illness or at the end of their lives. Discussion generated by the decision has drawn more than 120 million views on Weibo.