PURPOSE: To determine how decisions to forgo life support are made in European pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). METHODS: A multicenter, prospective study, the Eurydice II study, among 45 PICUs: 20 in France, 21 in Northern/Western (N/W)…
OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to describe the use of drugs with a possible or certain life-shortening effect in end-of-life care in infants and to evaluate the possibly lethal effect. DESIGN: For 292/298 deaths of live born infants (
This descriptive qualitative study explored parent experiences related to their infant's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization, end-of-life care, and palliative care consultation. "Life and death in the NICU environment" emerged as the…
From the time when children enter the preteen years onward, pediatric medical decision-making can entail a complex interaction between child, parents, and pediatrician. When the child and parents disagree regarding medical decisions, the pediatrician…
INTRODUCTION: Despite recent advances in neonatal intensive care in Korea, few studies exist on the end-of-life decisions in newborns. In this study, we sought to examine the status of end-of-life decisions in neonates, changes over time, and…
Draft guidelines address regional variations, but there are worries over terminology, the needs of family members and implementation. The death of a child is a comparatively rare event in the UK. Even so, more than 3,000 infant and 2,000 children and…
BACKGROUND: The information needs of parents facing end-of-life decisions for their child are complex due to the wide-ranging dimensions within which such significant events unfold. While parents acknowledge that healthcare professionals are their…
Pediatric hospice and palliative care has progressed in recent years with the development of new programs and models of care. Missing from the empirical literature, however is a model of the needs of children. The purpose of the present study was to…
The death of a child alters the life and health of others immediately and for the rest of their lives. How a child dies influences parents' abilities to continue their role functions as well as siblings' abilities to make and maintain friendships,…
The principles of the right to informed consent and informed refusal are quite clear for competent adult patients. The right of a competent adult patient to give his informed consent before medical treatment can be started, is a patients' right that…
BACKGROUND: The quality of shared decision making for children with serious illness may depend on whether parents and physicians share similar perceptions of problems and hopes for the child. OBJECTIVE: (i) Describe the problems and hopes reported by…
Parents of seriously ill children are charged with making complicated medical decisions, and many of those decisions are made during their children's hospitalizations. As medical staff seek to support parents, it is important for them to understand…
OBJECTIVE: To examine associations among parent perceptions of infant symptoms/suffering, parent distress, and decision making about having additional children after an infant's death in the NICU. DESIGN: Mixed-methods pilot study incorporating…
Background In the last decade, the number of children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in England has almost doubled, and it is estimated that worldwide, there are 1.2 million children with palliative care needs. Families and…
Objective In English paediatric practice, English law requires that parents and clinicians agree the ‘best interests’ of children and, if this is not possible, that the courts decide. Court intervention is rare and the concept of best interests is…
The objective of this study is to determine if pediatric advance care planning (pACP) increases adolescent/family congruence in end-of-life (EOL) treatment preferences longitudinally. Adolescents aged 14-21 years with HIV/AIDS and their families were…
BACKGROUND: Some pregnant patients with complex fetal anomalies meet with paediatric palliative care subspecialists prior to delivery, but referral to antenatal palliative care consultation (APCC) is not standard. Little is known about its role in…
Aims Children's hospices provide a range of services for children with life limiting (LLC) and life threatening conditions (LTC). Referral previously relied on obtaining supporting views from the child's paediatrician and there was often delay…
The relationship between parents and clinician is critical to the care and treatment of children with life-limiting conditions (LLCs) and life-threatening illnesses (LTIs). This relationship is built and maintained largely in consultations. In this…
OBJECTIVE: Parents of seriously ill children require attention to their spiritual needs, especially during end-of-life care. The objective of this study was to characterize parental attitudes regarding physician inquiry into their belief system.…
The death of a child may have a profound impact on parents, family members, and health care providers who provided care for the child. Unique challenges are faced by parents of seriously ill children as they must serve as the legal authority for…
