Moral distress at the end of a life: when family and clinicians don ’t agree on implantable cardioverter-defibrillator deactivation
A 63-year-old man with end-stage ischemic cardiomyopathy presented with incessant ventricular tachycardia. He had been hospitalized multiple times in the past year for severe heart failure. As he approached end-of-life and was regularly receiving defibrillator shocks, his care team recommended deactivation of his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. However, his family did not wish to allow deactivation, reporting a religious obligation to prolong his life, regardless of the risk of suffering.
Source: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management - Category: Palliative Care Authors: Jill M. Steiner, Kristen K. Patton, Jordan M. Prutkin, James N. Kirkpatrick Source Type: research
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