OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of age on hospital resource use for seriously ill adults, and to explore whether age-related differences in resource use are explained by patients' severity of illness and preferences for ...

This essay is composed of five stories written by practicing physicians about their patients. Each clinical story describes a challenging ethical condition-potential abuse of medical power, gravely ill and probably over-treated ...

This paper focuses on the ethical dilemmas created by advanced technology that would allow patients with motor neurone disease to be sustained by artificial ventilation. The author attempts to support the patient's right ...

Despite the many complications and minimal benefits associated with long-term enteral nutrition in patients with advanced dementia, it is, nevertheless, a widespread practice in nursing homes throughout the United States. ...

Although technology exists to sustain vital functions of almost any patient, not every pulse-less patient is a candidate for resuscitation. Criteria needs to be developed to guide health care professionals in identifying ...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the anticipated decisions to consent to or to forgo life-sustaining treatment by spouses of patients with Alzheimer's disease and to describe the relationship of spouse and patient characteristics to ...

BACKGROUND: Serious illness often causes economic hardship for patients' families. However, it is not known whether this hardship is associated with a preference for the goal of care to focus on maximizing comfort instead ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess patients' willingness to accept life-sustaining treatment when the expected outcome is a diminished mental health state. DESIGN: Structured interviews with a consecutive series of patients. SETTING: A ...