Left ventricular assist devices as destination therapy (DT) improve quality of life for many patients with advanced heart failure. However, DT can be associated with risks such as infection, bleeding, and stroke, and may ...

To assess the benefit of proactive palliative medicine consultation for delineation of goals of care and quality-of-life preferences before implantation of left ventricular assist devices as destination therapy (DT).

Palliative sedation (PS) is the use of medications to induce decreased or absent awareness in order to relieve otherwise intractable suffering at the end of life. Although uncommon, some patients undergoing aggressive ...