Browse Items (58 total)

In pediatric settings, the concept of hope is frequently positioned as a fundamental aspect of care and at odds with the possibility and proximity of death. This arguably fosters silence about death and dying in childhood despite evidence indicating…

The authors have undertaken a study to explore the views in non-Western cultures about ending the lives of newborns with genetic defects. This study consists of including active euthanasia alongside withdrawal and withholding of treatment as…

Organ donation after euthanasia has been performed more than 70 times in Belgium and the Netherlands combined (personal communication, Jan Bollen, 2018). These two countries allow for euthanasia in minors as well, while Luxembourg, Colombia and…

Aim: Paediatricians caring for severely ill children may receive requests for physician-assisted dying (PAD). Dutch euthanasia law only applies to patients over 12 who make well-considered requests. These limitations have been widely debated, but…

BACKGROUND: In the terminal stages of neuro-metabolic diseases, parents can begin to experience a sense of loss even before the child dies, and might accept death prematurely. CASES: A 2.5-year-old female patient with Sandoff Disease (diagnosed at 9…

Recent laws in Europe now allow for pediatric euthanasia. The author reviews some rationale for caution, and addresses why ensuring the availability of pediatric palliative care is an important step before allowing pediatric euthanasia.

OBJECTIVE: To create a protocol delineating the needs of patients, families, and staff necessary to provide a pain-free, dignified, family-, and staff-supported death for newborns who cannot benefit from intensive, life-extending, technological…

In the complex patient—doctor relationship, the principle of personal autonomy has gradually acquired more weight against medical paternalism, both in clinical practice and in bioethical thinking. 1 In many countries, this change has been…

The Supreme Court decision in Carter v. Canada (2015) has led to changes to the Canadian Criminal Code, such that physician-assisted death is now a legal option for consenting adult patients who have a 'grievous and irremediable medical condition'…

Background The Dutch Euthanasia Act applies to patients 12 years and older, which makes euthanasia for minors younger than 12 legally impossible. The issue under discussion specifically regards the capacity of minors to request euthanasia. Objective…

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine how the decision-making process to forgo life support differs between southern and northern European pediatric intensive care units. DESIGN: Multiple-center, prospective study. SETTING: Thirty-nine…

The principle of double effect is used to justify the administration of medication to relieve pain even though it may lead to the unintended, although foreseen, consequence of hastening death by causing respiratory depression. Although a review of…

The legal position of the child as a vulnerable individual requires us as a society to treat them with special consideration in regard to the sanctity of life. In UK law, euthanasia is currently illegal, although there are some moves afoot to have…

OBJECTIVE: To examine the opinions of a perinatal health team regarding decisions related to late termination of pregnancy and severely ill newborns. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire was administered to physicians, social workers,…

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: The characteristics and frequency of clinical problems with the performance of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are uncertain. We analyzed data from two studies of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in The…

OBJECTIVE: The role of family interests in medical decision making is controversial. Physicians who routinely treat incompetent patients may have preferred strategies for addressing family interests as they are encountered in surrogate medical…

BACKGROUND: Intensivists must provide enough analgesia and sedation to ensure dying patients receive good palliative care. However, if it is perceived that too much is given, they risk prosecution for committing euthanasia. The goal of this study is…

BACKGROUND: Belgium's law on euthanasia allows only physicians to perform the act. We investigated the involvement of nurses in the decision-making and in the preparation and administration of life-ending drugs with a patient's explicit request…

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively determine opinions of members of a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) team regarding the appropriateness of aggressive care. The types of support that caregivers sought to limit and their reasons for wanting these limits…

In February 2014 the Belgian parliament voted to extend the existing euthanasia law to cover children under the age of 18. The law sanctions euthanasia for children with terminal or incurable conditions who are near death, suffering 'constant and…

Significant changes are occurring in Canada's health care system regarding physician-hastened death (PHD). In the Netherlands, where the Groningen Protocol is in place, euthanasia in now legal for infants and children. The present article considers…

KIE: The widespread consensus that withholding certain life-sustaining treatments, especially those entailing substantial suffering, is sometimes in a patient's best interest conflicts with our basic instincts when the treatments are food and water.…

A retrospective analysis was performed to describe the course of terminal care provided to dying hospitalized children in terms of symptom assessment and management, and communication and decision-making, at the end of life. Seventy-seven of 236…

Clinicians frequently worry that medications used to treat pain and suffering at the end of life might also hasten death. Intentionally hastening death, or euthanasia, is neither legal nor ethically appropriate in children. In this article, we…

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the attitudes of adolescent cancer survivors toward end-of-life decisions with life-shortening effects, including nontreatment decisions (NTDs), intensified alleviation of pain and symptoms (APS),…

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