This policy lays out Marie Curie Cancer Care’s commitment to delivering the best care to patients, their carers and families.
We strictly comply with all appropriate UK law and Care Commission standards as a minimum and have been commended on a number of activities for our outstanding levels of service and ethical approach.
All Marie Curie Cancer Care staff involved in research and the provision of care have a responsibility to be aware and have a thorough understanding of the ethical issues referred to in this policy.
Marie Curie Cancer Care recognises the absolute right of patients to refuse treatment. We actively support the ability of patients to make informed choices about all aspects of their care.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is considered inappropriate in circumstances where:
1.We strongly endorse the right of the competent patient to refuse consent to any medical treatment.
2.We commend the developing use of Advance Decisions (or their equivalent) to refuse treatment.
3.We strongly commend the continued development and growth of palliative care services in hospices, hospitals and the community.
4.We are not seeking a change in the law to permit euthanasia or physician assisted suicide.
Marie Curie Cancer Care works in line with the eight data protection principles as laid down in the 1998 Data Protection Act. Patient information provided in confidence is not used or disclosed in a form that might identify a patient without his/her consent. Each patient service area will have a designated data guardian who will be responsible for agreeing and reviewing protocols governing the protection and use of patient information by staff and volunteers.
Marie Curie Cancer Care no longer undertakes scientific research at the Marie Curie Research Institute in Oxted, which was closed in 2010. Until the end of 2012 Marie Curie will continue to fund the seven research programmes now based in various UK universities. As employees of these institutions, they will follow their ethical research policies on animal testing.
Marie Curie Cancer Care remains a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), which recognises many people are concerned about the well-being of animals in medical research.
AMRC members share those concerns and fund a variety of alternative research methods, including test tube and cell culture experiments and computer simulations.
Member charities also believe new treatments and cures which many of us take for granted - from antibiotics to blood transfusions - would not have been possible without research involving animals.
In the UK, animal experiments are strictly regulated by law. These regulations are the tightest in the world. AMRC charities support these laws and require scientists they fund to comply with them.
Marie Curie Cancer Care does not carry out any experiments whatsoever on human embryos and has no plans to do so in the future. Neither do we carry out any experimentation on human embryonic stem cells.
©2012 Marie Curie Cancer Care - Registered in England and Wales with Charity Reg No. 207994 and in Scotland with Charity Reg No. SC038731