Using drugs to end life without an explicit request of the patient |
| |
| Authors: | Rietjens Judith A C Bilsen Johan Fischer Susanne Van Der Heide Agnes Van Der Maas Paul J Miccinessi Guido Norup Michael Onwuteaka-Philipsen Bregje D Vrakking Astrid M Van Der Wal Gerrit |
| |
| Affiliation: | a Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlandsb Vrije Universiteit Brussel, End-of-Life Care Research Group, Brussels, Belgiumc University of Zurich, Institute of Sociology, Zurich, Switzerlandd Centre for Study and Prevention of Cancer, Epidemiology Unit, Florence, Italye Department of Medical Philosophy and Clinical Theory, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmarkf Department of Public and Occupational Health and Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
| |
| Abstract: | A small proportion of deaths result from the use of drugs with the intention to hasten death without an explicit request of the patient. Additional insight into its characteristics is needed for evaluating this practice. In the Netherlands in 2001, questionnaires were mailed to physicians that addressed the decision making that preceded their patient's death. Cases of ending life without an explicit request of the patient were compared with similar cases from 1995 and with cases from Belgium, Denmark, and Switzerland. In the Netherlands in 2001, patients receiving life-ending drugs without their explicit request were most often 80+ years old and had cancer. Most of them were incompetent patients nearing death. Characteristics of this practice in 1995 were quite comparable, as were characteristics of this practice in Belgium, Denmark, and Switzerland. The use of drugs with the intention to hasten death without an explicit request of the patient is part of medical end-of-life practice in the studied countries, regardless of their legal framework, and it occurs in similar fashion. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 InformaWorld PubMed 等数据库收录！ |
|
