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Is There Any Consensus About End-of-Life Care in Pediatrics?
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159:889-891.
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Universally, the death of a child provokes extreme grief. How a child dies may also provoke fundamental moral disagreements—sometimes between parents, among doctors and nurses, even across cultures. Which medical treatments may be justifiably withheld or withdrawn? Who should make such a decision? How much sedation and analgesia is too much for a dying patient? Is pediatric euthanasia ethically justifiable?
In this issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Vrakking et al1 describe end-of-life decisions for children in the Netherlands between August and December 2001. They report the following:
Some 36% of all deaths of children between the ages of 1 and 17 years during the relevant period were preceded by an end-of-life decision: 12% by a decision to refrain from potentially life-prolonging treatment; 21% by the alleviation of pain or symptoms with a possible life-shortening effect; and 2.7% by the use of drugs with the explicit intention . . . [Full Text of this Article]
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Jeffrey P. Burns, MD, MPH;
Christine Mitchell, RN, MS
RELATED ARTICLE
Medical End-of-Life Decisions for Children in the Netherlands
Astrid M. Vrakking, Agnes van der Heide, Willem Frans M. Arts, Rob Pieters, Edwin van der Voort, Judith A. C. Rietjens, Bregje D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Paul J. van der Maas, and Gerrit van der Wal
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159(9):802-809.
ABSTRACT
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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Physician Medical Decision-making at the End of Life in Newborns: Insight Into Implementation at 2 Dutch Centers
Verhagen et al.
Pediatrics 2007;120:e20-e28.
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