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  • Withdrawal of ventilation at the patient's request in MND: a retrospective exploration of the ethical and legal issues that have arisen for doctors in the UK

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Withdrawal of ventilation at the patient's request in MND: a retrospective exploration of the ethical and legal issues that have arisen for doctors in the UK
  1. Kay Phelps1,
  2. Emma Regen1,
  3. David Oliver2,3,
  4. Chris McDermott4 and
  5. Christina Faull5,6
  1. 1Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
  2. 2Wisdom Hospice, Rochester, Kent, UK
  3. 3Centre for Professional Practice, University of Kent, Chatham, UK
  4. 4Department of Neurology, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
  5. 5LOROS: The Leicestershire and Rutland Hospice, Leicester, UK
  6. 6Honorary Professor DMU-LOROS Centre for the Promotion of Excellence in Palliative Care, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Christina Faull, LOROS: The Leicestershire and Rutland Hospice, Groby Road, Leicester LE3 9QE, UK; Christinafaull{at}loros.co.uk

Abstract

Background Ventilatory support has benefits including prolonging survival for respiratory failure in motor neurone disease (MND). At some point some patients may wish to stop the intervention. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance recommends research is needed on ventilation withdrawal. There is little literature focusing on the issues doctors encounter when withdrawing ventilation at the request of a patient.

Aim To identify and explore with doctors the ethical and legal issues that they had encountered in the withdrawal of ventilation at the request of a patient with MND.

Method A retrospective thematic analysis of interviews of 24 doctors (including palliative care, respiratory, neurology and general practice) regarding their experiences with withdrawal of ventilation support from patients with MND.

Results Respondents found withdrawal of ventilation at the request of patients with MND to pose legal, ethical and moral challenges in five themes: ethical and legal rights to withdrawal from treatment; discussions with family; discussions with colleagues; experiences of legal advice; issues contributing to ethical complexity. Though clear about the legality of withdrawal of treatment in theory, the practice led to ethical and moral uncertainty and mixed feelings. Many respondents had experienced negative reactions from other healthcare professionals when these colleagues were unclear of the distinction between palliation of symptoms, withdrawal of treatment and assisted death.

Conclusions Legal, ethical and practical guidance is needed for professionals who support a patient with MND who wishes to withdraw from ventilation. Open discussion of the ethical challenges is needed as well as education and support for professionals.

  • Clinical decisions
  • Ethics
  • Neurological conditions
  • Respiratory conditions

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2014-000826

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