Hong Kong Won't Count Its Own Death Wishes

The Yellow Folder Law

Hong Kong's new end-of-life law took effect this past Friday, July 31. It lets any mentally competent adult over 18 sign a document saying no, don't bring me back, if I'm terminally ill or in a coma with no way out. Two witnesses needed, one of them a doctor. You get a yellow folder with your directive inside, the kind paramedics are trained to look for now. Doctors can also upload it straight to the government's eHealth system, so it follows you even if the folder ends up stuck in a drawer somewhere.

Before Friday, this only worked inside a hospital, under common law, on a good day. Now a paramedic called to someone's home, or to a care home anywhere in the city, can actually honour the wish instead of being legally required to pump on someone's chest regardless. Chan Yiu-kuen, 89, was one of the first to sign. 'It is OK to depart the world at my old age,' she said. 'Better not to rescue me further, as it could be hard for me.'

Nobody Wants To Count

Ask how many people have actually signed a directive since Friday and the answer from the government is nothing. No number. Not even a rough one. The Hospital Authority's clinical ethics chair, Dr Doris Tse, called this law 'a milestone in end-of-life care services.' Fine, probably true. But the milestone comes with no odometer.

This is the same government that loves to publish a press release with a nice graphic showing how well its transport and infrastructure systems are running, down to the decimal point when it suits them. But a law about whether people want to be resuscitated, suddenly the counting stops.

Maybe it's early days and the number is small and nobody wants to say 'twelve people signed a form' out loud in week one. Maybe. But death is already the subject nobody in this city wants to bring up at dinner, and a government that goes quiet on the one stat that shows whether people are actually using this right isn't doing much to change that.