Refusal of treatment certificate: Competent Person (PDF File - 135.2 kb)

If a person does not want a procedure or medical treatment for a condition or illness they currently have, they may create a refusal of treatment certificate. The certificate safeguards the patient and medical practitioner by clearly documenting the person's treatment decisions.

The person must

• be informed about the nature of his or her condition to the extent that they can make a decision about treatment,
• be of sound mind without clinical signs of cognitive impairment or potentially reversible conditions such as depression,
• be over eighteen years of age and
• nominate whether their refusal of treatment is specific or general.

If able, the competent person signs but does not witness the document. The refusal of treatment certificate is then completed by two persons -one of whom must be a medical practitioner and maybe the treating doctor.

Enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) (PDF File - 103.2 kb)

Refusal of medical treatment certificate: Agent or guardian of incompetent person (PDF File - 153.3 kb)

To appoint an agent to make medical decisions on their behalf, a person completes an enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) form in the prescribed manner. The enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) names the agent, and an alternative agent if required, whom the person trusts to carry out their wishes about refusing medical treatment.

An enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) requires both the person appointing the agent and the agent to be of sound mind and over eighteen years of age. The document should be witnessed by two persons, with one witness needing to be authorised to take and receive statutory declarations. The proposed agent or the alternate agent may not witness the document.

If a person is not able to appoint an agent, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) may appoint a guardian to make decisions about the person's medical treatment.

Only a guardian appointed by VCAT with the power to make medical treatment decisions or an agent with an enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) may complete a refusal of treatment certficate on behalf of a person not able to make decisions for themselves.

Agents and guardians with the power to make medical treatment decisions may refuse treatment if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the incompetent person, if competent and given the relevant information, would consider the proposed treatment unwarrented.

Medical treatment may also be refused if it would cause unreasonable distress to the patient.