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Maximal care considerations when treating patients with end-stage heart failure: ethical and procedural quandaries in management of the very sick
- Source :
- Journal of Religion and Health
- Publication Year :
- 2010
- Publisher :
- Springer US, 2010.
-
Abstract
- Deciding who should receive maximal technological treatment options and who should not represents an ethical, moral, psychological and medico-legal challenge for health care providers. Especially in patients with chronic heart failure, the ethical and medico-legal issues associated with providing maximal possible care or withholding the same are coming to the forefront. Procedures, such as cardiac transplantation, have strict criteria for adequate candidacy. These criteria for subsequent listing are based on clinical outcome data but also reflect the reality of organ shortage. Lack of compliance and non-adherence to lifestyle changes represent relative contraindications to heart transplant candidacy. Mechanical circulatory support therapy using ventricular assist devices is becoming a more prominent therapeutic option for patients with end-stage heart failure who are not candidates for transplantation, which also requires strict criteria to enable beneficial outcome for the patient. Physicians need to critically reflect that in many cases, the patient’s best interest might not always mean pursuing maximal technological options available. This article reflects on the multitude of critical issues that health care providers have to face while caring for patients with end-stage heart failure.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
medicine.medical_treatment
Nursing(all)
Heart transplantation
Ventricular assist devices
Quality of life (healthcare)
Health care
medicine
Humans
Health ethics
Disease management (health)
Intensive care medicine
General Nursing
Medicine(all)
Heart Failure
Original Paper
business.industry
Sick role
Patient Selection
Religious studies
Sick Role
Disease Management
General Medicine
medicine.disease
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Transplantation
Heart failure
Candidacy
Quality of Life
Medical emergency
Heart-Assist Devices
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 15736571 and 00224197
- Volume :
- 50
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Religion and Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4b9a6cb924a69864fe34cf89709c09b5