This is a study of American public opinion toward euthanasia and the physician's role in performing it. The authors examine how these attributes are affected by religious affiliation, religious self-perception, political self-perception and education. The data include 8384 American respondents from years 1977, 1978, 1982, 1985 and 1988 of the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opin...

All health care providers may be confronted by a Muslim patient, but many health care professionals are lacking basic knowledge on the Muslim faith and medical ethics based on Islamic law (Shariah). One must endeavour to differentiate between ethnic customs and Islamic tradition. It is important for staff to have a general understanding of the principles of Islamic beliefs and actions to attain...

BACKGROUND A bill to legalise assisted dying in the UK has been proposed in Parliament's House of Lords three times since 2003. The House of Lords Select Committee concluded in 2005 that 'the few attempts to understand the basis of doctors' views have shown equivocal data varying over time'. Fresh research was recommended to gain a fuller understanding of health sector views. AIM To examine G...

the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and incidence of venous thromboembolism among critically ill medical surgical patients. in this cross sectional and retrospective study, we observed 243 patients who were first admitted at the intensive care unit. patients who were diagnosed with deep venous thrombosis or embolism either by clinical or paraclinical methods were enrolle...

Stress-related mucosal damage (SRMD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients due to the gastrointestinal blood loss. Prophylaxis of SRMD with proton pump inhibitors or histamine-2 blockers has gained widespread use in intensive care units. Both demonstrated to be effective in reducing clinically significant bleedings, while PPIs has shown to exert some anti ...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the procalcitonin (PCT) changes in two different high-dose colistin regimens in the treatment of multi-drug resistant MDR gram negative infections in ICU patients. Method: This is a prospective study of adult ICU patients with bacteremia and ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by MDR gram negative pathogens. Patients were assigned to t...

In The BMJ this week, two experts discuss whether the Assisted Dying Bill, to be debated at the House of Commons next month, would provide adequate protection for vulnerable people from harm. The new Bill, presented by Mr Rob Marris MP, proposes legislation that would allow doctors to help terminally ill and mentally competent adults to die by prescribing drugs that patients would administer th...

LMOST all patients want their family members to make decisions about life-sustaining treatment for them if they become incompetent.1,2 Asking family members to make such decisions is standard clinical practice and has strong ethical justification.3-5 However, dilemmas arise when family members disagree about life-sustaining treatment. In an important, unanimous decision, the California Supreme ...