Differences in attitudes towards end-of-life care among intensivists, oncologists and prosecutors in Brazil: a nationwide survey

Excerpt

There is great variability in end-of-life care [1] and the legal context may interfere with decisions on limitation of medical treatment [2]. In Brazil, end-of-life care was initially regulated in 2006, but legal controversies still continue [3]. Even though physicians do not need authorization from the Judiciary system to act, those controversies may cause uncertainty regarding seemingly competing professional duties (caring for patients’ best interests versus maintenance of life), possibly hampering good medical care [4]. In this study, we sought to compare the attitudes of physicians (intensivists and oncologists) and prosecutors from the Ministerio Publico da Uniao (MPU) towards common concepts in end-of-life care in Brazil, such as patient autonomy and withholding/withdrawal of care. We evaluated MPU prosecutors because they may be responsible for investigation of deaths due to limitation of medical treatment. …