Living Wills Project

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 KCLCA 1996/KFLE
Held at	: King's College London College Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/ ›
Full title	: Living Wills Project
Date(s)	: 1985-1992
Level of description	: Sub-fonds of King's College London Archives
Extent	: 3.5 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: King's College London Centre for Medical Law and Ethics

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Centre for Medical Law and Ethics, part of the School of Law, was opened in 1978 to undertake research, organise teaching and publish papers concerning issues in medicine involving law and ethics. It draws on the expertise of staff in numerous schools and departments including medicine and theology and offers undergraduate course units and an MA and Diploma programme. The Living Wills Working Party was set up between the Centre and the charity, Age Concern, in 1985, as an early exercise in methodological appraisal of the subject and comprised a forerunner to the Living Wills Project run by the Centre and the AIDS charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust, to measure and evaluate the demand for advanced legal directives and powers of attorney pertaining to medical treatment of terminally or chronically-ill patients.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

The records of the Living Wills Working Group and Living Wills Project at King's College London consist of correspondence and completed survey questionnaires, 1985-1992. These include correspondence concerning the Living Wills Working Party set up by the Centre and the charity, Age Concern, 1985-1989; correspondence and completed questionnaires of a survey of patients, doctors and nurses to assess the needs of HIV sufferers as part of the Living Wills Project run by the Centre in association with the Terrence Higgins Trust, 1991-1992.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Boxed in order of accession.

Conditions governing access:

Administrative records are generally closed for 30 years. Records relating to individuals are subject to the Data Protection Act, and are closed for 80 years from the last date in the file. They may be consulted by Centre for Medical Law and Ethics staff with permission from the Head of Department.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Not available

Finding aids:

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Centre for Medical Law and Ethics.

Allied Materials

Related material:

King's College London Archives: Records of the Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) Project run by the Centre (Ref: 1996/KFLE).

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: College prospectuses. Entry compiled by Geoff Browell.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
August 2001