End-of-life Decision-making and Religious Beliefs

Issues surrounding end-of-life decision-making

End-of-life decision-making is a complex process that can be extremely challenging. We describe a 42-year-old woman in an irreversible coma without an advance directive. The case serves to illustrate the complications that can occur in end-of-life decision-making and challenges in resolving difficult futility disputes. We review the role of advance directives in planning end-of-life care, the r...

Is Every Life Worth Saving: Does Religion and Religious Beliefs Influence Paramedic's End-of-Life Decision-making? A Prospective Questionnaire-based Investigation

Background Paramedics, arriving on emergency cases first, have to make end-of-life decisions almost on a daily basis. Faith shapes attitudes toward the meaning and worth of life itself and therefore influences decision-making. Objective The objective of this study was to detect whether or not religious and spiritual beliefs influence paramedics in their workday life concerning end-of-life dec...

Religion and End-of-Life Treatment Preferences: Assessing the Effects of Religious Denomination and Beliefs

We use Wisconsin Longitudinal Study data (n = 2,678) to assess the effects of religious denomination and ideology on end-of-life treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness scenarios: physical pain and severe cognitive impairment. We found no statistically significant differences when comparing traditionally defined religious denominational groups (i.e., conservative, moderate an...

Caregiver fatigue and surrogate end-of-life decision making.

Nephrologists' changing practices in reported end-of-life decision-making.

Because the dialysis patient population is increasingly composed of older patients with high symptom burden, shortened life expectancy, and multiple comorbid conditions, nephrologists often engage in end-of-life decision-making with their patients. In the 1990s, reported practices of nephrologists' end-of-life decision-making showed much variability. In part as a reaction to that variability, t...