When Life-Sustaining Treatment Is Withdrawn and the Patient Doesn’t Die
Title
When Life-Sustaining Treatment Is Withdrawn and the Patient Doesn’t Die
Creator
Kutzsche S; Partridge JC; Leuthner SR; Lantos JD
Identifier
Publisher
Pediatrics
Date
2013
Subject
Palliative Care; Palliative Care; Ethics; prognostication; withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment
Description
One of the most difficult decisions that doctors and parents must make is the decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment. Doctors find it easier to withdraw treatments in situations where withdrawal will be rapidly fatal rather than in situations in which treatment withdrawal will lead to a prolonged dying process. Mechanical ventilation is usually such a treatment. Withdrawal of ventilation generally leads to the patient’s rapid demise. Doctors may tell parents that death will occur quickly after a ventilator is withdrawn. But what happens when the doctors are wrong and a patient survives without life support? What should doctors do next? We present a case in which that happened and asked 3 experts to comment on the case. Stefan Kutzsche is a senior consultant in neonatology at Oslo University Hospital Ulleval in Norway. John Colin Partridge is a neonatologist and professor of pediatrics at University of California, San Francisco. Steven R. Leuthner is a neonatologist and professor of pediatrics and bioethics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. They each recommend slightly different approaches to this dilemma.
2013-10
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).
Type
Journal Article
Citation List Month
Backlog
Citation
Kutzsche S; Partridge JC; Leuthner SR; Lantos JD, “When Life-Sustaining Treatment Is Withdrawn and the Patient Doesn’t Die,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed April 17, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/14626.