Table 3 Actions carried out at the end of the life of a patient that did not die suddenly or unexpectedly (n = 430)
From: End-of-life decision making by Austrian physicians - a cross-sectional study
Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
Did you do, or arrange that someone else did, the following? (Multiple answers possible) | ||
Intensify a medical treatment to relieve pain and/or symptoms | 371 | 86.3 |
Decide to withhold a treatment | 258 | 60.0 |
Discontinue a treatment | 211 | 49.1 |
Did the patient receive medications such as barbiturates or benzodiazepines to maintain continuous deep sedation or a coma until death? | 72 | 16.7 |
Did death result from a medication that you prescribed, made available or administered with the express intention of hastening death (or enabling the patient to end his or her own life)? | 5 | 1.2 |