Decision-Making Approaches Used to Limit Potentially Nonbeneficial Life-Prolonging Interventions.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Professional society policy statements recommend that clinicians limit (ie, withhold or withdraw) potentially nonbeneficial life-prolonging interventions by (1) achieving a shared decision with patients or surrogates or (2) initiating an institutional process to address disagreement with patients or surrogates. However, in the context of a health care system with a default tendency toward life prolongation, it is unclear whether clinicians rely entirely on these recommended approaches or resort to alternate approaches.

Objective

To characterize the range of decision-making approaches clinicians report using to limit potentially nonbeneficial life-prolonging interventions.

Design, setting, and participants

This qualitative study was conducted at 3 tertiary a

SUBMITTER: Batten JN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12924098 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature