Journal of medical ethics
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Journal of medical ethics · Nov 2006
Importance of the advance directive and the beginning of the dying process from the point of view of German doctors and judges dealing with guardianship matters: results of an empirical survey.
To analyse and compare the surveys on German doctors and judges on end of life decision making regarding their attitudes on the advance directive and on the dying process. ⋯ A high degree of valuation for advance directive was seen in both German doctors and judges; most agreed to the binding character of the situational directive. Regarding the different individual concepts of the dying process, a cross-professional discourse on the contents of this term seems to be overdue.