Articles: palliative-care.
-
Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) and palliative care often have an antagonistic relationship in jurisdictions where both are legal, but the early ethical and legal history of palliative care closely mirrors that of MAID in important ways. Palliative practices that are commonplace today were considered homicide or "medically assisted death" in most jurisdictions until quite recently. Moreover, while many patients request MAID today for reasons that are criticized as "ableist," the same rationale is accepted without comment or judgment when used to justify withdrawal of life support or a discontinuation of life-prolonging therapies. ⋯ By the same token, palliative care exists because no field in medicine is able to fix every problem it encounters. It is ironic, therefore, that some palliative care providers oppose MAID with the hubristic argument that we can relieve all forms of suffering. Palliative care providers may choose not to participate in MAID, but palliative care and MAID do not have to be mutually exclusive and are often complementary and synergistic for patients and families.
-
Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther · Jul 2023
[End-of-Life Care: medical and therapeutic aspects].
According to data from the German Federal Statistical Office, 424635 patients died in hospitals across Germany in 2020. That is 43% of all deaths. ⋯ However, there is often uncertainty as to what the care of the dying should look like in concrete terms. The following explanations are intended to convey how ideal end-of-life care should be designed and provide concrete assistance and suggestions as to how this can also succeed outside a palliative care unit.