Poor Involvement of General Practitioners in Decisions of Withholding or Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment in Emergency Departments.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Decisions of withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment are frequent in emergency departments (ED) and patients are often unable to communicate their wishes concerning end of life desires.

Objective

To evaluate the participation of general practitioners (GPs) during the decision-making process of withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in ED.

Design

Prospective observational multicenter study.

Patients

We included patients for whom a decision of withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatments was made in ED. For each patient, we enrolled one general practitioner.

Main measures

GPs were interviewed about their perception of end of life patient's management and the communication with ED and families.

Key results<

SUBMITTER: Douplat M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6957665 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature