The Wendland case--withdrawing life support from incompetent patients who are not terminally ill.

Respiratory support withdrawal in intensive care units: families, physicians and nurses views on two hypothetical clinical scenarios

INTRODUCTION Evidence suggests that dying patients' physical and emotional suffering is inadequately treated in intensive care units. Although there are recommendations regarding decisions to forgo life-sustaining therapy, deciding on withdrawal of life support is difficult, and it is also difficult to decide who should participate in this decision. METHODS We distributed a self-administered ...

Attitudes of college students about physician-assisted suicide: the influence of life experiences, religiosity, and belief in autonomy.

This study describes attitudes of college students about physician-assisted suicide, analyzes key factors that predict attitudes on this issue, and compares these attitudes with those regarding other forms of end-of-life actions. Data were collected via personal interviews with 200 randomly selected students at a 4-year college. A majority of respondents believe that a physician should be abl...

Physician-assisted suicide: three crucial distinctions.

In Part I discusses whether there is a sustainable distinction between withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining measures and physician-assisted suicide. By segregating those who choose to end their lives into two groups, albeit with considerable overlap, the state can exert its general interest in preserving life and preventing suicide where it has the greatest interest and justification for ...

Medical decisions concerning the end of life: a discussion with Japanese physicians.

OBJECTIVES Life-sustaining treatment at the end of life gives rise to many ethical problems in Japan. Recent surveys of Japanese physicians suggested that they tend to treat terminally ill patients aggressively. We studied why Japanese physicians were reluctant to withhold or withdraw life-support from terminally ill patients and what affected their decisions. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS A qualit...

Decisionmaking for the incompetent terminally ill patient: a compromise in a solution eliminates a compromise of patients' rights.