Law and cancer at the end of life: The problem of nomoigenic harms and the five desiderata of death law

SummaryGood laws are a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the provision of good health care. At the end of life, there is a need for laws that foster and encourage the best possible outcomes for patients, their families and healthcare professionals. This article proposes five desiderata for laws at the end of life. It uses the emerging Australian jurisprudence of end-of-life decision making to test and examine the desiderata. The article also proposes that poorly drafted and confusing laws may have a deleterious effect on patient care. These nomoigenic (law-caused) harms can be avoided by adherence to the five desiderata of death law.