Tag Archive for ‘end-of-life care’
Patient autonomy and end-of-life care: A COVID-19 story
The author describes a difficult decision involving patient autonomy and end-of-life care in the form of a phone call, during the height of New York City’s pandemic crisis, from a woman who sounded to be in respiratory distress but refused to go to the hospital.
RAS Issues Symposium: Reining in the scalpel
Recent articles in the mainstream press indicate a growing public awareness that end-of-life procedures are overused. As surgeons, we know that the decision to perform surgery at the end of life is difficult, and there is no shortage of manuscripts delving into this complex topic. From this author’s perspective, end-of-life operations, specifically in the elderly, are overused and do little to lengthen or improve quality of life and, indeed, often cause more harm than good.
RAS Issues Symposium: An argument against heroic intervention
Recent articles in the mainstream press indicate a growing public awareness that end-of-life procedures are overused. As surgeons, we know that the decision to perform surgery at the end of life is difficult, and there is no shortage of manuscripts delving into this complex topic. From this author’s perspective, end-of-life operations, specifically in the elderly, are overused and do little to lengthen or improve quality of life and, indeed, often cause more harm than good.
Surgery at the end of life: For love or money?
A total of 18 percent of Medicare beneficiaries undergo a major operation in the last four weeks before their death. The discussion regarding risks and benefits of operative interventions in an end-of-life situation can be emotionally charged and ethically complex.
