Critical Illness/th [Therapy]; Decision Making; Parents/px [Psychology]; Terminal Care; Belgium; gestational age; Humans; infant; Infant Newborn; Life Support Care/px [Psychology]; Medical Futility/px [Psychology]; Physician-Patient Relations; retrospective studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Terminal Care/px [Psychology]; Withholding Treatment
Description
The objective of this study was to assess how frequently end-of-life decisions (ELDs) with a possible or certain life-shortening effect in neonates and infants were discussed with parents, and to determine if consultation of parents was associated with the type of ELD, (clinical) characteristics of the patient, and socio-demographic characteristics of the physician. A retrospective study of all deaths of live born infants under the age of one year was conducted in Flanders, Belgium. For 292 of all 298 deaths in a 1-year period (between 1 August 1999 and 31 July 2000) the attending physician could be identified and was sent an anonymous questionnaire. All cases with an ELD and containing information regarding the consultation of parents were included. The response rate was 87% (253/292). In 136 out of 143 cases, an ELD was made and information on the consultation of parents was obtained. According to the physician, the ELD was discussed with parents in 84% (114/136) of cases. The smaller the gestational age of the infant, the more the parental request for an ELD was explicit (p=0.025). When parents were not consulted, the ELD was based more frequently on the fact that the infant had no chance to survive and less on quality-of-life considerations (p=0.001); the estimated shortening of life due to the ELD was small in all cases, but significantly smaller (p<0.001) if parents were not consulted. It is concluded that the majority of parents of children dying under the age of one year are consulted in ELD-making, especially for decisions based on quality-of-life considerations (95.1%). Parents of infants with a small gestational age more often explicitly requested an ELD.
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Euthanasia; Non-U.S. Gov't; PedPal Lit; decision making; Withholding Treatment/statistics & numerical data; 48.9-64.0). Lethal drugs were administered in 15 cases among 117 early neonatal deaths and in two cases among 77 later deaths (13%vs 3%; 70.1-85.5) of the 121 physicians thought that their professional duty sometimes includes the prevention of unnecessary suffering by hastening death and 69 (58%; 95% CI 70.4-82.4) of the 253 deaths studied; Active/psychology/statistics & numerical data Female Humans Infant Infant; and such a decision was made in 14 3 cases (57%; Attitude of Health Personnel Belgium; Newborn Male Pain/therapy Palliative Care/statistics & numerical data Physicians/; p=0.018). The attitude study showed that 95 (79%; psychology Questionnaires Research Support
Description
2005
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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).
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 (<1 year), in a 1-year period (between 1 August 1999 and 31 July 2000) in Flanders, Belgium, the attending physician could be identified and was sent an anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaires relating to deaths directly preceded by the administration of drugs were reviewed by a multi-disciplinary panel. RESULTS: The response rate was 86.6% (253/292). In 57 cases (22.5%), drugs were administered directly before death. In 17/57 cases, the physician explicitly intended to hasten death. In 16/17 cases information about the drug(s) was available: opioids were administered in 14, a muscle relaxant in 5 and potassium chloride in 3 cases. In 13 cases where the lethal effect could be evaluated, the panel judged that the drugs were effective in hastening death in 10 cases. In most cases the estimated life-shortening was <24 h. In 40/57 cases the physician administered drugs to alleviate pain and/or symptoms, taking into account a possible life-shortening effect without explicitly intending it. Opioids were administered in all 30 cases where information about the drug(s) was supplied. In 13 cases the lethal effect could be evaluated, and in 6 cases the panel judged that the drugs had hastened death. CONCLUSIONS: When life-shortening was explicitly intended, (dosages of) drugs were likely to be lethal. Drugs administered also clearly hastened death in some cases where life-shortening was not explicitly intended.
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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).
Provoost, Veerle Cools, Filip Bilsen, Johan Ramet, Jose Deconinck, Peter Vander Stichele, Robert Vande Velde, Anne Van Herreweghe, Inge Mortier, Freddy Vandenplas, Yvan Deliens, Luc Comment in: Intensive Care Med. 2006 Jan;32(1):6-8; PMID: 16311743