Patients and their families often prefer to avoid invasive or overly aggressive life-sustaining measures at the end of life. However, many dying patients receive non-beneficial life-sustaining treatments, in part due to clinicians’ failures to elicit patients’ preferences, provide appropriate recommendations, and participate in shared decision-making.
Sources:
Cardona-Morrell M, et al. Non-beneficial treatments in hospital at the end of life: a systematic review on extent of the problem. Int J Qual Healthcare. 2016 Sep; 28(4):456–469. PMID: 27353273.
Downar J, et al. Nonbeneficial treatment Canada: definitions, causes, and potential solutions from the perspective of healthcare practitioners. Crit Care Med. 2015 Feb;43(2):270-81. PMID: 25377017.