A study of 50 terminally ill cancer patients revealed that 52% were uninformed regarding their diagnosis and prognosis. In almost all cases the relatives had been adequately informed. No less than 82% of the terminally ill patients showed an awareness of the fatal prognosis. Most of the patients found the communication with the doctor and the relatives as unsatisfactory. Comparing this group wi...

BACKGROUND In the Netherlands, the increase in of out-of-hours care that is provided by GP co-operatives is challenging the continuity of care for the terminally ill in general practice. Aim of this study is to investigate the views of general practitioners (GPs) on the transfer of information about terminally ill patients to the GP co-operatives. GPs were asked to give their view from two diff...

OBJECTIVE To examine the possible impact of changes in the organization and management of the Medicaid program on hospitalization patterns for children with chronic and nonchronic conditions between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 1998. DESIGN Longitudinal retrospective study of hospitalization patterns of children in 4 strata: Medicaid, non-Medicaid, chronic conditions, and nonchronic cond...

Decisions concerning the use of intravenous fluids and antibiotics in terminally ill patients are regularly made by hospital doctors, but there is little record of staff attitudes and current practice in Britain. A questionnaire was therefore distributed to 833 Welsh hospital doctors, citing the case of a hypothetical terminally ill patient and asking questions about medical management. Of the ...

In the recent case of Stransham-Ford v. the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, the North Gauteng High Court held that a terminally ill patient who was experiencing intractable suffering was entitled to commit suicide with the assistance of his doctor and that the doctor's conduct would not be unlawful. The court was careful to state that it was not making a general rule about doctor...

AIM To compare the satisfaction levels of patients and carers with a community night nursing service. METHOD Thirty seven patients and 23 carers completed satisfaction postal questionnaires. Respondents were further subdivided into acute, chronic and terminally ill patients and their carers. RESULTS Satisfaction levels with the service were generally high, although respondents from the term...

Several longitudinal studies show that over time the American public has become more approving of euthanasia and suicide for terminally ill persons. Yet, these previous findings are limited because they derive from biased estimates of disaggregated hierarchical data. Using insights from life course sociological theory and cross-classified logistic regression models, I better account for this li...

This is a study of American public opinion toward euthanasia and the physician's role in performing it. The authors examine how these attributes are affected by religious affiliation, religious self-perception, political self-perception and education. The data include 8384 American respondents from years 1977, 1978, 1982, 1985 and 1988 of the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opin...

All health care providers may be confronted by a Muslim patient, but many health care professionals are lacking basic knowledge on the Muslim faith and medical ethics based on Islamic law (Shariah). One must endeavour to differentiate between ethnic customs and Islamic tradition. It is important for staff to have a general understanding of the principles of Islamic beliefs and actions to attain...

BACKGROUND A bill to legalise assisted dying in the UK has been proposed in Parliament's House of Lords three times since 2003. The House of Lords Select Committee concluded in 2005 that 'the few attempts to understand the basis of doctors' views have shown equivocal data varying over time'. Fresh research was recommended to gain a fuller understanding of health sector views. AIM To examine G...