Physician reports of medication use with explicit intention of hastening the end of life in the absence of explicit patient request in general practice in Belgium

摘要

BackgroundAlthough the incidence of the use of life-ending drugs without explicit patient request has been estimated in several studies, in-depth empirical research on this controversial practice is nonexistent. Based on face-to-face interviews with the clinicians involved in cases where patients died following such a decision in general practice in Belgium, we investigated the clinical characteristics of the patients, the decision-making process, and the way the practice was conducted.