| Limitation of treatment at the end of life: an empirical-ethical analysis regarding the practices of physician members of the German Society for Palliative Medicine. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 21292698 Owner: NLM Status: Publisher |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Objectives To determine the frequencies and types of limitation of medical treatment performed by physician members of the German Society for Palliative Medicine and to analyse the findings with respect to clinical and ethical aspects of end-of-life practices. Design Cross-sectional postal survey. Setting Data collection via the secretary of the German Society for Palliative Medicine using the German language version of the EURELD survey instrument. Subjects All 1645 physician members of the German Society for Palliative Medicine. Main outcome measures Types and frequencies of limitation of treatment and possible determinants. Results 901 physicians participated in the study (response rate 55.8%). Participants reported limitation of treatment in 69.1% of cases. These decisions most often affected artificial nutrition (19%), chemotherapy (14%), antibiotics (11%) and medication other than antibiotics (11%). In the majority of eligible cases, physicians estimated the life-shortening effect of limitation of treatment to be <7 days. However, estimations differ depending on the medical measures in question. Bivariate statistical analysis indicated that withholding of treatment was performed significantly more frequently for patients aged ≥65 years (p=0.019). In addition, there were significant associations between the incidence of limitation of treatment and the different diseases reported by respondents as the underlying cause of death. Conclusion The findings of this study provide information on the current state of an ethically and clinically challenging aspect of clinical practice and can serve as a starting point for further interdisciplinary research on normative and empirical aspects of treatment decision-making at the end of life. |
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Authors:
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Jan Schildmann; Julia Hoetzel; Anne Baumann; Christof Mueller-Busch; Jochen Vollmann |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE Date: 2011-2-2 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Journal of medical ethics Volume: - ISSN: 1473-4257 ISO Abbreviation: - Publication Date: 2011 Feb |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2011-2-4 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7513619 Medline TA: J Med Ethics Country: - |
Other Details:
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Languages: ENG Pagination: - Citation Subset: - |
Affiliation:
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Institute for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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