• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.77-107
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• 2008

In Republic of Chaina (Taiwan), Natural Death Act named "Anning Huauhe Yiliao Tiaoli" which means palliative and hospice care act was enacted in year of 2000. And enforced in the same year. Many scholars say that Taiwan's Act took Many U.S.A.'s acts such as 'Federal Patient Self-Determination Act 1990', 'California Natural Death Act 1976' and 'Washington Natural Death Act 1979' for a model. Taiwan's Act adopts a few outstanding systems - 'advance declarations' including 'living will' and 'durable power of attorney for health care', 'family-determination system' for a patient who is in a persistent unconscious state. This paper disusses this Act. 'The content is as follow: 1. A background of legislation. 2. The purpose of legislation. 3. The concept of terms. 4. Patient's self-determination. 5. Subrogated determination by family. 6. Keeping documents. 7. Punitive provision. 8. The relationship with euthanasia. 9. Controversial issues.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.292-295
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• 2016

Hospice and palliative care in Taiwan has been growing continuously. The 2015 Quality of Death index, as rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranked Taiwan first among Asian countries and sixth in the world. In this review article, we highlight three particular areas that might have contributed to this success; the laws and regulations, spiritual care and research network. Finally, we discuss the future challenges and prospects for Taiwanese encounters. A systemic review was conducted with the keywords "hospice palliative care Taiwan" using PubMed. The passing of the "Natural Death Act" in 2000 set the example and established a landmark for patient autonomy in Asia; it guarantees the patient's right to request that medical staff do not resuscitate (DNR) them and to reject other futile medical treatments at the end of their life, thus reflecting the importance of palliative care from the policy perspective. In 2015, Taiwan passed another pioneering law entitled the "Patient Autonomy Act". This law states that a patient may decline medical treatment according to his/her own will. Taiwanese indigenous spiritual care was launched in 2000. It requires a Buddhist Chaplain to successfully complete a training program consisting of lectures, as well as bedside practicum before applying Buddhist practices to end-of-life care. The Japan-Korea-Taiwan research network was established for the purpose of enabling collaborative research for the East-Asian collaborative cross-cultural Study to Elucidate the Dying process (EASED) cohort. With consensus from the government and society to make it a priority, hospice and palliative medicine in Taiwan has been growing steadily.