These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining therapy in a Canadian intensive care unit.
    Author: Wood GG, Martin E.
    Journal: Can J Anaesth; 1995 Mar; 42(3):186-91. PubMed ID: 7743566.
    Abstract:
    The purpose of this study was to document the rationale and procedures for withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in critically ill patients. A prospective observational study was conducted over 12 mo in a Canadian academic intensive care unit. Of the 110 intensive care unit patients who died during the study period, 71 (64.5%) died after treatment was withheld or withdrawn. Compared with the other 39 patients who died despite full therapy, these patients were found to have a longer hospital and ICU stay, more organ systems failed, and a higher rate of malignancy. Intensivists rated poor prognosis for survival and poor quality of life should the patient survive as being the two most important factors when making a decision to withhold or withdraw treatment, while patient age and physical health prior to hospital admission were the two least important factors. There was a consistent approach to withdrawing therapy in 68 of the 71 patients who had treatment either withheld or withdrawn. In these 68 patients, the first step was to write a do-not-resuscitate order, vasopressor drugs were then stopped and, lastly, the patient was weaned from mechanical ventilation and the trachea was extubated. The results of this study demonstrate that life-supporting treatment is commonly withdrawn in critically ill patients when continued therapy is thought to be unlikely to restore the patient to health.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]