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End-of-life decision-making in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2008

R. D. Truog
R. D. Truog*
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Division of Medical Ethics, Department of Social Medicine Children’s Hospital Boston, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesia, Boston, MA, USA
*
Correspondance to: Robert D. Truog, MSICU Office, Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. E-mail: robert.truog@childrens.harvard.edu; Tel: +1 617 432 6575; Fax: +1 617 734 3863
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Summary

Decision-making at the end-of-life in the United States has evolved over the last 50 yr, beginning with the development of the concept of brain death as a criterion for permitting patients who are in a state of ‘irreversible coma’ to be considered as ‘dead’ for purposes of ventilator withdrawal and organ transplantation. Since then, a firm consensus has emerged in American law and ethics that ‘Patients have a virtually unlimited right to refuse any unwanted medical treatment, even if necessary for life itself.’ With regard to patients who are unable to make decisions for themselves, both Europe and the United States are converging toward a view that respects a role for surrogates in decision-making while recognizing the need to limit their authority. Beyond decisions to withdraw and withhold treatments, both the United States and Europe are experimenting with active hastening of the dying process through euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. In the author’s opinion, the next big question to be addressed in end-of-life decision-making is ‘Just how bad does the neurological condition and prognosis need to be before it is acceptable to allow a decision to withdraw life support’? Although the practices described here have wide acceptance throughout the United States and Europe, the worldwide emergence of religious fundamentalism and the associated vitalistic view about the sanctity of life may result in significant changes over the next few decades.

Keywords

ETHICSORGAN DONATIONPROFESSIONAL–FAMILY RELATIONSPERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATEDECISION-MAKING
Type
Original Article
Information
European Journal of Anaesthesiology , Volume 25 , Issue S42 , February 2008 , pp. 43 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © European Society of Anaesthesiology 2008

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