Full Answer
Results: In contrast to the guidelines, which emphasize that there is no ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, not less than 50 per cent of the professionals in the ICU were of the opinion that there is an ethical difference.
To withhold or withdraw some forms of treatment, in fact, is the simplest way to defend patients from possibly unwanted negative consequences of life-prolonging medical technology, especially when the patient’s quality of life lowers dramatically.
When facing decisions about withholding or withdrawing life- sustaining treatment the physician should: Review with the patient the individual’s advance directive, if there is one. Otherwise, elicit the patient’s values, goals for care, and treatment preferences.
What should be underlined is that the particular situation and the consequences of withholding as well as withdrawing life-sustaining treatment should always be taken into account. Ethics, Medical*
Withholding or withdrawing a life-sustaining treatment tends to be very challenging for health care providers, patients, and their family members alike. When a patient’s life seems to be nearing its end, it is generally felt that the morally best approach is to try a new intervention, continue all treatments, attempt an experimental course of action, in short, do something.
The withholding and withdrawal of life support are processes by which various medical interventions either are not given to or are taken away from patients, with the expectation that they will die as a result. The propriety of withholding and withdrawal of life support has been supported by ethical …
In the community of caregivers, there is a general consensus that some heroic measures are not obligatory in certain circumstances that are defined by professional norms. For example, cardiopulmonary resuscitation in terminal cancer patients is not endorsed because of its violation of the dignity of …
For many patients, notably among elderly nursing home residents, no plans about end-of-life decisions and palliative care are made. Consequently, when these patients experience life-threatening events, decisions to withhold or withdraw life-support raise major challenges for emergency healthcare professionals. Emergency department premises are not designed for providing the psychological and ...
A general rationale is presented for withholding and withdrawing medical treatment in end-of-life situations, and an argument is offered for the moral irrelevance of the distinction, both in the context of pharmaceutical treatments, such as chemotherapy in cancer, and in the context of life-sustaining treatments, such as the artificial ventilator in lateral amyotrophic sclerosis.
While there may be an emotional difference between not initiating an intervention at all and discontinuing it later in the course of care, there is no ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing treatment.
Decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining interventions can be ethically and emotionally challenging to all involved. However, a patient who has decision-making capacity appropriate to the decision at hand has the right to decline any medical intervention or ask that an intervention be stopped, even when that decision is expected to lead ...
This chapter resolves a long-standing debate. It examines what has been called the Equivalence Thesis in respect of withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment (LST).
A Morally Permissible Moral Mistake? Reinterpreting a Thought Experiment as Proof of Concept
While there may be an emotional difference between not initiating an intervention at all and discontinuing it later in the course of care, there is no ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing treatment.
Decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining interventions can be ethically and emotionally challenging to all involved. However, a patient who has decision-making capacity appropriate to the decision at hand has the right to decline any medical intervention or ask that an intervention be stopped, even when that decision is expected to lead ...