Death wishes and explicit requests for euthanasia in a palliative care hospital: an analysis of patients files

BMC Palliative Care

Table 2 Classification of the patients into the three groups of WD

	Notes (n = 228,886*)		Patients (n = 2157)
	Number	%	Number	%
Observations and notes extracted by computer search	2080	1%	917	43%
Group ER, ST or OWD	335	0.1%	195	9%
Group ER: Request for euthanasia	100	5%	61	3%
Group ST: Thought of suicide	21	1%	15	1%
Group OWD: Other expression of a Wish to Die	214	10%	119	6%
Withdrawn notes	1745	84%	836	39%

*33,024 and 195,862 notes from medical and paramedical staff, respectively.
Computer extraction of medical observations and carers’ notes. Distribution between the three groups. A note can belong to only one group, with priority to “euthanasia request” (ER), then “suicidal thoughts” (ST) then other expression of a wish to die (OWD). A given patient may be linked to several notes: he/she was classified in the ER group if he/she expressed ER at least once; otherwise, the patient was classified in the ST group if expressing ST at least once; otherwise, the patient was classified in the OWD group.

ISSN: 1472-684X