Compassionate Extubation For A Peaceful Death In The Setting Of A Community Hospital: A Case-series Study

Title

Compassionate Extubation For A Peaceful Death In The Setting Of A Community Hospital: A Case-series Study

Creator

Victor C Kok

Publisher

Clinical Interventions In Aging

Date

2016

Subject

Geriatrics & Gerontology; Life; Quality Of Death; Withdrawal; Intensive-care-unit; Palliative Care; Palliative Extubation; Good Death; Mechanical Ventilation; Support; End; Compassionate Extubation; Euthanasia; Hospice Care; Murder; Terminal Care/methods; Airway Extubation - Methods; Hospitals; Community - Organization & Administration; Geriatrics; Compassionate Extubation; Rc952-954.6
Compassionate Extubation; Palliative Extubation; Good Death; Hospice Care; Quality Of Death

Description

Background

The use of compassionate extubation (CE) to alleviate suffering by terminating mechanical ventilation and withdrawing the endotracheal tube requires professional adherence and efficiency. The Hospice Palliative Care Act, amended on January 9, 2013, legalizes the CE procedure in Taiwan.

Methods

From September 20, 2013 to September 2, 2014, the hospice palliative care team at a community hospital received 20 consultations for CE. Eight cases were excluded because of non-qualification. Following approval from the Ethics Committee, the medical records of the remaining 12 patients were reviewed and grouped by the underlying disease: A, “terminal-stage cancer”; B, “non-cancer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest”; and C, “non-cancer organ failure”. Time to extubation using a cut-off at 48 hours was assessed.

Results

The mean ages of patients (standard deviation) in groups A, B, and C were 66.3 (14.9) years, 72 (19.1) years, and 80.3 (4.0) years, respectively. The mean number of days of intubation at consultation were 6.8 (4.9), 7.3 (4.9), and 179.3 (271.6), respectively. The mean total doses of opioids (as morphine-equivalent dose) in the 24 hours preceding CE were 76 (87.5) mg, 3.3 (5.8) mg, and 43.3 (15.3) mg. The median times from extubation (range) to death were 97 (0.2–245) hours, 0.3 (0.2–0.4) hours, and 6.1 (3.6–71.8) hours. Compared to those requiring <48-hour preparatory time, patients requiring >48 hours to the moment of CE were younger (62.8 years vs 75.5 years), required a mean time of 122 hours (vs 30 hours) to CE (P=0.004), had shorter length of stay (33.3 days vs 77.8 days), required specialist social worker intervention in 75% of cases (vs 37.5%), and had a median duration of intubation of 11.5 days (vs 5.5 days).

Conclusion

CE was carried out according to protocol, and the median time from extubation to death varies determined by the underlying disease which was 0.3 hour in patients admitted after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and 97 hours in patients with advanced cancer.

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Citation List Month

March 2016 List

Citation

Victor C Kok, “Compassionate Extubation For A Peaceful Death In The Setting Of A Community Hospital: A Case-series Study,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed April 28, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/10556.