Full Answer
Is there an ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment?
Results: In contrast to the guidelines, which emphasize that there is no ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, not less than 50 per cent of the professionals in the ICU were of the opinion that there is an ethical difference.
When facing decisions about withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment the physician?
When facing decisions about withholding or withdrawing life- sustaining treatment the physician should: Review with the patient the individual’s advance directive, if there is one. Otherwise, elicit the patient’s values, goals for care, and treatment preferences.
What should be underlined when withdrawing life-sustaining treatment?
What should be underlined is that the particular situation and the consequences of withholding as well as withdrawing life-sustaining treatment should always be taken into account. Ethics, Medical*
Should you withhold or withdraw treatment?
To withhold or withdraw some forms of treatment, in fact, is the simplest way to defend patients from possibly unwanted negative consequences of life-prolonging medical technology, especially when the patient’s quality of life lowers dramatically.
What is the difference between withdrawing and withholding life sustaining treatment?
Such decisions can essentially take one of two forms: withdrawing – the removal of a therapy that has been started in an attempt to sustain life but is not, or is no longer, effective – and withholding – the decision not to make further therapeutic interventions.
What is withholding life sustaining treatment?
The goal of withdrawing life sustaining treatment is to remove treatments that are no longer desired or do not provide comfort to the patient. 2. The withholding of life-sustaining treatments is morally and legally equivalent to their withdrawal.
Is withdrawing life sustaining treatment legal?
In the United States, the withholding and withdrawal of life support is legally justified primarily by the principles of informed consent and informed refusal, both of which have strong roots in the common law.
Is there an ethical or legal difference between withholding and withdrawing medically assisted nutrition and hydration?
Although individuals may hold personal or professional reservations, withholding or withdrawing ANH is both legally and ethically permissible.
What is withdrawal of treatment?
In general, treatment is withdrawn when death is felt to be inevitable despite continued treatment. This would typically be when dysfunction in three or more organ systems persists or worsens despite active treatment or in cases such as multiple organ failure in patients with failed bone marrow transplantation.
Is withdrawal or withholding of treatment equivalent to euthanasia?
It should be made clear that withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining therapies that are disproportionate to the expected outcome is not equivalent to euthanasia; it is in fact considered ethical and medically appropriate, as long as basic humane, compassionate care is not interrupted.
Who makes decisions regarding withholding or withdrawing treatment?
The patient or decision maker, after being provided appropriate counseling and options, decides against this intervention to reflect personal values. Information from Education for Physicians on End-of-Life Care Trainer's Guide, Module 11, withholding, withdrawing therapy.
When should I stop life sustaining treatment?
When is it justifiable to discontinue life-sustaining treatments? If the patient has the ability to make decisions, fully understands the consequences of their decision, and states they no longer want a treatment, it is justifiable to withdraw the treatment.
Is withdrawal of treatment ethical?
The withdrawal of treatment is one of the most emotionally challenging and ethically complex aspects of end-of-life care. As our ability to prolong life progresses, the necessity to address issues such as the withdrawal of treatment increases in parallel.
Which legally allows parents to withhold life sustaining treatment from a terminally ill child?
ADVANCE DIRECTIVES Those two legal documents are 1) a living will or 2) the durable power of attorney. A living will must be properly witnessed by a notary, and allows the patient to state, in writing, that they do not wish to be kept alive by artificial means or heroic measures.
Is withdrawal of treatment considered euthanasia?
No. A health professional does not perform euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide by withholding or withdrawing treatment even if that treatment is needed to keep the person alive.
Can a competent patient refuse life sustaining treatment?
Similarly, if the patient refusing the life-sustaining treatment is competent, one of the two necessary conditions for treatment discussed above is not fulfilled and hence the patient's health care providers are not ethically permitted to start the treatment.
Is there an ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing treatment?
While there may be an emotional difference between not initiating an intervention at all and discontinuing it later in the course of care, there is no ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing treatment.
Is it ethical to withhold life sustaining interventions?
Decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining interventions can be ethically and emotionally challenging to all involved. However, a patient who has decision-making capacity appropriate to the decision at hand has the right to decline any medical intervention or ask that an intervention be stopped, even when that decision is expected to lead ...
Abstract
This chapter resolves a long-standing debate. It examines what has been called the Equivalence Thesis in respect of withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment (LST).
References (11)
A Morally Permissible Moral Mistake? Reinterpreting a Thought Experiment as Proof of Concept