The Government gazetted two notices today to facilitate the choice of dying in place for terminally ill patients in residential care homes (RCHs).

Pursuant to the notices which will come into effect on June 3, if a resident who passed away in an RCH was diagnosed as having a terminal illness while alive and was attended to by a registered medical practitioner within 14 days before passing away, and the resident’s cause of death certificate states that he or she died of a natural cause, the case will no longer be considered as a reportable death to the Coroners Court.

To tie in with the amended legislation, the Social Welfare Department will promulgate guidelines for residential care homes for people with disabilities and residential care homes for the elderly that are not nursing homes. The department will also provide training such as end-of-life care for RCH staff to help them implement the dying-in-place arrangements.

The two notices will be laid before the Legislative Council for negative vetting next Wednesday.