Families are given power of attorney to end lives of the sick

They will have the right to appoint a family member or friend to tell doctors to withdraw the tubes feeding them when they become too ill to communicate.

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Critics said the new rules - slipped out by ministers during the final days of the local election campaign - amount to the legalisation of euthanasia.

In the past, so-called power of attorney given by the sick to relatives or friends have covered only their way their money and property is spent and used.

But the regulations will extend power of attorney so that for the first time relatives will have the right to give doctors instructions about whether "lifesustaining treatment" should continue.

Usually, "life-sustaining treatment" is the supply of food and water to patients who cannot drink or feed themselves.

Anti-euthanasia campaigners claimed patients tempted to sign up to the new lasting power of attorney agreements might not have been told the truth about what could happen to them.

Elspeth Chowdharay-Best of the pressure group Alert said: "This is euthanasia and it is not clear enough to people who might be involved.

"People do not realise that they are condemning themselves to die of thirst.

"There are people who do not want to prolong their lives. But they do not realise that this law will mean they will spend 12 or 13 days dying in great pain.

"By the time they are being denied water and food, they will be too drugged to complain. They are likely to have been given the drugs because they are suffering, and the drugs will mean they cannot communicate.

"The regulations should be made absolutely clear and they should tell people: If you give someone the power to stop life-sustaining treatment, you will be refused even a drop of water.

"People who do this should know what it is like to die of thirst."

The regulations, set down in Parliament by Justice Minister Vera Baird, are legal under the controversial Mental Capacity Act of 2005.

They are going through Parliament under the "negative resolution procedure", which means there will be no debate on them unless MPs protest and call for one.

Patients will have to sign an official form to hand over power of attorney to relatives. The forms, which will be distributed in October, state: "Life-sustaining treatment means any treatment that a doctor considers necessary to sustain your life.

"Life-sustaining treatment is not a category of treatment. Whether or not a treatment is life-sustaining will depend on the circumstances of a particular situation."

It continues: "Some treatments will be life-sustaining in some situations but not in others; the important factor is if the treatment is needed to keep you alive."

The form gives patients two options. The first, Option A, states: "I want to give my attorney(s) authority to give or refuse consent to life-sustaining treatment on my behalf."

Option B says attorneys should not have life and death powers.

The patient must sign and date the form, which must then be signed by a witness.

The form must also be signed by the attorney and a independent "certificate provider", who is asked to guarantee that the person handing over life and death powers is not doing so under duress or under the influence of somebody who wishes to take advantage of them.

It must then be lodged with the Office of the Public Guardian, the state agency which is in charge of the affairs of those who are incapacitated.

The agency is expected to publish full guidance for those handing over power of attorney before the laws come into force in the autumn.

The Mental Capacity Act also gives patients the power to write "living wills" which set down how they wish to be treated if they become incapacitated and can instruct doctors to withdraw lifesustaining treatment.

Doctors who disobey the instructions of legally-appointed attorneys or living wills and act to keep their patients alive risk criminal prosecution for assault.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "Creating a lasting power of attorney means that people can be reassured someone they have chosen will have a voice in future decisions about their care.

"The act clearly states that they can make decisions regarding lifesustaining treatment only when they have been given the express authority to do so."