Withholding and withdrawing lifesustaining treatment in a patient’s best interests: Australian judicial deliberations

Medical Journal of Australia

Volumn 201, Issue 9, 2014, Pages 545-547

  Willmott, Lindy ^a   White, Ben ^a   Smith, Malcolm K ^a   Wilkinson, Dominic J C ^b,c  

^a QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^c UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; ASSISTED SUICIDE; AUSTRALIA; FAMILY DECISION MAKING; HEALTH PRACTITIONER; HUMAN; JURISPRUDENCE; LAW; LIFE SUSTAINING TREATMENT; MEDICAL ETHICS; PATIENT DECISION MAKING; PATIENT RISK; QUALITY OF LIFE; TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT; TREATMENT OUTCOME; TREATMENT WITHDRAWAL; UNCONSCIOUSNESS; DECISION MAKING; ETHICS; LEGAL ASPECT; LEGISLATION AND JURISPRUDENCE; LIVING WILL; LONG TERM CARE; MENTAL CAPACITY; PROXY; TERMINAL CARE;

ADVANCE DIRECTIVES; AUSTRALIA; DECISION MAKING; HUMANS; LIFE SUPPORT CARE; MEDICAL FUTILITY; MENTAL COMPETENCY; PROXY; QUALITY OF LIFE; TERMINAL CARE; WITHHOLDING TREATMENT;

EID: 84908397528     PISSN: 0025729X     EISSN: 13265377     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5694/mja13.10874     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. NSW Health. Confl ict resolution in end of life settings (CRELS): final CRELS Project Working Group report 2010. Sydney: NSW Health. http://www0.health.nsw.gov.au/ pubs/2010/pdf/confl ict_resolution.pdf (accessed May 2014).
2. Bloche MG. Managing confl ict at the end of life. N Engl J Med 2005; 352: 2371-2373.
3. Luce JM. A history of resolving confl icts over end-of-life care in intensive care units in the United States. Crit Care Med 2010; 38: 1623-1629.
4. Davidson JE, Powers K, Hedayat KM, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for support of the family in the patient-centred intensive care unit: American College of Critical Care Medicine Task Force 2004-2005. Crit Care Med 2007; 35: 605-622.
5. Hillman K, Chen J. Confl ict resolution in end of life treatment decisions: an evidence check rapid review brokered by the Sax Institute for the Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health. Sydney: NSW Department of Health, 2008. http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/research/Documents/14-confl ict-resolution-endof- life.pdf (accessed May 2014).
6. Faunce TA, Stewart C. The Messiha and Schiavo cases: third-party ethical and legal [corrected] interventions in futile care disputes. Med J Aust 2005; 183: 261-263.
7. Willmott L, White B, Then S-N. Adults who lack capacity: substitute decisionmaking. In: White B, McDonald F, Willmott L, editors. Health law in Australia. 2nd ed. Sydney: Thomson, 2014: 193-253.
8. Martin W, Freyenhagen F, Hall E, et al. An unblinkered view of best interests. BMJ 2012; 345: e8007.
9. Dunn MC, Clare ICH, Holland AJ, Gunn MJ. Constructing and reconstructing 'best interests': an interpretative examination of substitute decision-making under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. J Soc Welfare Fam Law 2007; 29: 117-133.
10. Wilkinson D, Savulescu J. A costly separation between withdrawing and withholding treatment in intensive care. Bioethics 2014; 28: 127-137.
11. Way J, Back AL, Curtis JR. Withdrawing life support and resolution of confl ict with families. BMJ 2002; 325: 1342-1345.
12. Helft PR, Siegler M, Lantos J. The rise and fall of the futility movement. N Engl J Med 2000; 343: 293-296.
13. Wilkinson DJ, Savulescu J. Knowing when to stop: futility in the ICU. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol 2011; 24: 160-165.
14. Willmott L, White B, Downie J. Withholding and withdrawal of 'futile' life-sustaining treatment: unilateral medical decision-making in Australia and New Zealand. J Law Med 2013; 20: 907-924.
15. Pope TM, Waldman EA. Mediation at the end of life: getting beyond the limits of the talking cure. Ohio St J on Disp Resol 2007; 23: 143 .