A Nationwide Study of Decisions to Forego Life-Prolonging Treatment in Dutch Medical Practice

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Abstract
ADVANCES IN medicine and technology have had a great impact on the care of critically ill patients. Life-sustaining interventions, like mechanical ventilation and artificial nutrition or hydration, enable physicians to effectively postpone death in many patients who otherwise would have died. There is a growing interest in a humane approach to dying, and the inherent question is whether use of life-sustaining therapy is always in the patient's best interest. Currently, the right of competent patients to refuse treatment is widely accepted, even if this should hasten death.