RT Book, Section
A1 Rabow, Michael W.
A1 Pantilat, Steven Z.
A1 Shah, Ann Cai
A1 Poree, Lawrence
A1 Mitra, Raj
A2 Papadakis, Maxine A.
A2 McPhee, Stephen J.
A2 Rabow, Michael W.
A2 McQuaid, Kenneth R.
SR Print(0)
ID 1193126307
T1 Decision Making for Patients with Serious Illnesses
T2 Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2023
YR 2023
FD 2023
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781264687343
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1193126307
RD 2024/04/17
AB The  idea  that  patients  must  choose  between  quality  and  quantity  of  life  is  an  outmoded  concept  that  presents  patients  with  a  false  choice.  Clinicians  should  discuss  with  patients  that  an  approach  that  provides  concurrent  palliative  and  disease-focused  care  is  the  one  most  likely  to  achieve  improvements  in  both  quality  and  quantity  of  life.  Unfortunately,  some  evidence  suggests  that  end-of-life  care  for  some  patients  is  determined  more  by  local  availability  of  services  and  physician  comfort  than  by  patient  wishes.  Well-informed,  competent  adults  have  a  right  to  refuse  life-sustaining  interventions,  even  if  this  would  result  in  death.  In  order  to  promote  patient  autonomy,  clinicians  are  obligated  to  inform  patients  about  the  risks,  benefits,  alternatives,  and  expected  outcomes  of  medical  interventions,  such  as  CPR,  mechanical  ventilation,  hospitalization  and  ICU  care,  and  artificial  nutrition  and  hydration.