We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The practice of withholding and withdrawing life-support measures among patients with cancer in Jordan.
- Authors
Khater, Wejdan A.; Akhu-Zaheya, Laila M.; Abu Alhijaa, Eyad H.; Abdulelah, Hazem A.; EL-Otti, Sanaa N.
- Abstract
In Jordan, an Arabic Islamic country, decisions around withholding and/or withdrawing life support measures still present both moral and professional dilemmas. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of such measures among patients with cancer in Jordan. The medical records of 436 patients with cancer who were at least 18 years old and who died at a specialized cancer centre in Jordan in 2008 were reviewed retrospectively. Of those, 212 (48.6%) had a written decision to withhold or withdraw life support measures. Among the 436 charts reviewed, only 7 patients (1.6%) had treatment withdrawn, while 212 (48.6%) had treatment withheld. Resuscitation was the most common treatment withheld, followed by medication, and poor prognosis was the most common reason for the decision. The time period between a decision being made and the death of the patient was short, indicating that treatment plans are not being made well in advance. A cultural and religious consensus regarding such decisions is needed to help ensure that a greater proportion of terminally ill people plan their care in advance, and to aid health-care providers in advising their patients and acting in the patients' best interests.
- Subjects
JORDAN; ANALYSIS of variance; CANCER patients; ISLAM; LIFE support systems in critical care; STATISTICS; DATA analysis; TERMINATION of treatment; RETROSPECTIVE studies; DATA analysis software
- Publication
International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 2011, Vol 17, Issue 9, p440
- ISSN
1357-6321
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.12968/ijpn.2011.17.9.440