The meaning of spirituality in end-of-life decisions among LGBT older adults.

2015 ◽  
pp. 91-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody Swartz ◽  
Morgan Bunting ◽  
Christine A. Fruhauf ◽  
Nancy A. Orel
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Decisions ◽  
Life Decisions

scholarly journals On the Likelihood of Surrogates Conforming to the Substituted Judgment Standard When Making End-of-Life Decisions for Their Partner

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 651-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonore Batteux ◽  
Eamonn Ferguson ◽  
Richard J. Tunney
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Next Of Kin ◽  
Substituted Judgment ◽  
End Of Life Decisions ◽  
Life Decisions ◽  
The Right ◽  
Substituted Judgment Standard

A considerable proportion of end-of-life decisions are made by the patient’s next-of-kin, who can be asked to follow the substituted judgment standard and decide based on the patient’s wishes. The question of whether these surrogate decision makers are actually able to do so has become an important issue. In this study, we examined how the likelihood of surrogates conforming to the substituted judgment standard varies with individual differences in mortality acceptance and confidence in their decision making. We recruited 153 participants in romantic relationships between 18 and 80 years old from the general population. We asked them to make hypothetical end-of-life decisions for themselves and on behalf of their partner, as well as predict what their partner would do, and complete a series of questionnaires. Participants predicted that their partner would make similar decisions to their own but were more likely to accept a life-saving treatment that could result in reduced quality of life on their partner’s behalf than for themselves. Decisions made by older adults were more likely to conform to the substituted judgment standard, which is encouraging given that they are more likely to be confronted with these decisions in real life, although this was not due to differences in mortality acceptance. Older adults were also more likely to have had previous discussions with their partner and thereby know that person’s wishes and feel confident that they made the right decision, but these factors did not affect their likelihood of conforming to the substituted judgment standard. This shows that encouraging discussions about end of life among families would ease the decision process, but more work is needed to ensure that surrogates can adhere to the substituted judgment standard.

scholarly journals Attitudes of the Equestrian Public towards Equine End-of-Life Decisions

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1776
Author(s):  
Catherine Bell ◽  
Suzanne Rogers
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
End Of Life Decisions ◽  
Life Decisions ◽  
End Of Life Decision ◽  
Physical Reasons ◽  
Horse Owners

A key welfare concern for the equine population in the U.K. has been identified as delayed death, leading to prolonged suffering of horses. Reasons why some horse owners fail to have their horses euthanised include financial cost, emotional attachment, peer pressure, negative attitudes towards killing and poor recognition of behavioural indicators of equine pain and stress. The Five Freedoms framework of welfare was used to build a Likert-style survey to investigate the factors underlying attitudes of horse owners towards welfare measures in an end-of-life decision. Participants were asked to respond to hypothetical welfare scenarios and to give details of any horses they had had euthanised. The survey was conducted predominantly via equestrian Facebook groups and obtained 160 participant responses. Reliability of the scale was acceptable, with Cronbach’s α=0.89. Principal Component Analysis was used to load the hypothetical scenarios onto seven factors containing 62.2% of the variance. The first four factors could be categorized according to “Ethology-informed Management”, “Traditional Horse Management”, “Emotional Issues” and “Physical Issues”. Participants were more likely to consider euthanasia for physical issues, compared with issues relating to affective state and/or ethology, although it was not clear whether this was due to disregard for welfare issues relating to mental health or failure to recognise them as such. A large number of responses stated that the scenario had no bearing on whether a horse should be euthanised, again suggesting a lack of recognition of welfare issues and their implications. When asked to state their reasons for euthanising their horses, participants cited almost exclusively physical reasons, with the exception of those citing dangerous behaviour. Only a small number of responses also included consideration of affective and/or ethological factors, suggesting that welfare issues concerning affective state and/or behaviour are at risk of omission from end-of-life decisions.

Moral distress in end-of-life decisions: A qualitative study of intensive care physicians

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 185-189
Author(s):  
Una St Ledger ◽  
Joanne Reid ◽  
Ann Begley ◽  
Peter Dodek ◽  
Daniel F. McAuley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Moral Distress ◽  
End Of Life Decisions ◽  
Life Decisions

scholarly journals European Resuscitation Council Guidelines 2021: Ethics of resuscitation and end of life decisions

Resuscitation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyros D. Mentzelopoulos ◽  
Keith Couper ◽  
Patrick Van de Voorde ◽  
Patrick Druwé ◽  
Marieke Blom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
European Resuscitation Council ◽  
End Of Life Decisions ◽  
Life Decisions

scholarly journals “What Would You Do?”: How Cat Owners Make End-of-Life Decisions and Implications for Veterinary-Client Interactions

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1114
Author(s):  
Katherine Littlewood ◽  
Ngaio Beausoleil ◽  
Kevin Stafford ◽  
Christine Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Chronically Ill ◽  
Future Research ◽  
End Of Life Decisions ◽  
Life Decisions ◽  
End Of Life Decision ◽  
Life Decision

Cats are the most common companion animals in New Zealand. Advances in veterinary care means that cats are living longer and there are many older cats. End-of-life decisions about cats are complicated by owner–cat relationships and other psychosocial factors. Our study explored the ways in which end-of-life decisions were being made by owners of older and chronically ill cats in New Zealand and the role of their veterinarian in the process. Qualitative data were gathered via retrospective semi-structured interviews with 14 cat owners using open-ended questions. Transcripts of these interviews were explored for themes using template analysis and nine themes were identified. Four were animal-centered themes: cat behavior change, pain was a bad sign, signs of ageing are not good, and the benefits of having other people see what owners often could not. Five were human-centered themes: veterinarians understanding owners’ relationships with their cat, normalizing death, the need for a good veterinarian to manage end of life, veterinary validation that owners were doing the right thing, and a strong desire to predict the time course and outcome for their cat. End-of-life decision making is complex, and the veterinarian’s role is often poorly defined. Our owners appreciated the expertise and validation that their veterinarian provided but continuity of care was important. Future research aimed at exploring the veterinarian’s perspective during end-of-life decision making for cats would be a valuable addition to the topic.

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