[The palliative patient as an emergency patient: A model for decision making in life-threatening situations using 4 case reports]

[Cooperation between intensive care and palliative care : The status quo in German Comprehensive Cancer Centers]

Hintergrund

Die interdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit zwischen Intensivmedizin und Palliativmedizin kann die Versorgungsqualität verbessern. Das Ausmaß dieser Zusammenarbeit ist aber bisher kaum untersucht.

Ziel der Arbeit

Es sollten die angebotenen und in Anspruch genommenen palliativmedizinischen Unterstützungsangebote auf den Intensivstationen deutscher onkologischer Spitzenzentren erfasst werden.

Material und Methoden

Durchgeführt wurde eine quantitativ-qualitative, deskriptive Umfrage an den 16 von der Stiftung Deutsche Krebshilfe geförderten Zentren. Die im quantitativen Teil erfragten Häufigkeiten werden als Mittelwert und Median mit den jeweiligen Streumaßen dargestellt, während die im qualitativen Teil erhobenen Triggerfaktoren mit einer Inhaltsanalyse nach Mayring ausgewertet wurden.

Ergebnisse

Von Juli bis August 2017 konnten Angaben aus 15 von 16 onkologischen Spitzenzentren (94 %) erfasst werden. Im Jahr 2016 wurden im Median 33 Intensivpatienten (Min. 0, Max. 100) palliativmedizinisch vorgestellt und 9 Patienten (Min. 1, Max. 30) auf eine Palliativstation verlegt. Regelmäßige intensivmedizinisch-palliativmedizinische Visiten sowie ein Screening-Tool zur Einbindung der spezialisierten Palliativmedizin sind an zwei onkologischen Spitzenzentren implementiert. Anhand von 23 genannten Triggern, die auf der Intensivstation eine palliativmedizinische Mitbehandlung ausgelöst haben, lassen sich nach qualitativer Analyse die drei Kategorien „Entscheidung und Einstellung des Teams“, „Zustand des Patienten“ und „Wunsch von Patienten und Angehörigen“ ableiten.

Diskussion

Trotz eines verfügbaren Angebots werden palliativmedizinische Ressourcen in den intensivmedizinischen Abteilungen der onkologischen Spitzenzentren immer noch selten genutzt. In die tägliche Routine integrierte Angebote wie Screening-Tools oder gemeinsame Visiten könnten die Ausnutzung der angebotenen palliativmedizinischen Ressourcen erhöhen und die Versorgungsqualität verbessern.

[Medicolegal aspects in emergency medical care : Analysis of the frequency of advance health care directives and the influence on decision making in emergency medicine]

BACKGROUND

Medical decisions in an emergency medical services (EMS) situation are always extremely time- critical and sensitive, potentially leading to medicolegal consequences. Advance health care directives (AHCDs) are crucial components in the patients' participative decision making. When a patient refuses resuscitation, and/or other life-extending treatments, emergency physicians face possible ethical, medical, and medicolegal conflicts.

METHODS

As part of the RIMANO II Study [Risk Management Präklinische (prehospital) Notfallmedizin (emergency medicine)], all 18 "emergency physician bases" of the Berlin Fire Department were polled regarding the influence of AHCDs in regard to emergency medical decision making. The assessment was based on anonymous questionnaires. Furthermore, emergency medical suggestions for improvement of AHCDs were gathered. Descriptive statistics and qualitative methods were used for evaluation.

RESULTS

A total of 112 responses from emergency physicians could be incorporated into the study. Anesthesiologists represented the largest group (n = 55, 49 %), followed by internists (n = 40, 36 %). The median length of experience in EMS was 7 years [interquartile range (IQR) 4-14 years]. Patients' "do not resuscitate" orders were obeyed in 78/112 cases (70 %, 95 % CI 69-78 %). In 49/112 cases (44 %, 95 % CI 34-53 %), the request to not be hospitalized was granted. The length of EMS experience, type of medical specialty, the number of EMS cases and ways in which AHCDs were handled were all contributing factors to the various emergency medical interventions.

CONCLUSION

AHCDs appear to have an influence in the emergency medical decision process. However, it is presently unclear as to what a standardized and universally comprehensible AHCD should look like, in order to provide a framework that is both acceptable and necessary in a prehospital emergency medicine environment, ensuring medicolegal certainty for the parties involved.

[Ethics in intensive care and euthanasia : With respect to inactivating defibrillators at the end of life in terminally ill patients]

BACKGROUND

In critically ill patients, intensive care medical procedures allow diseases to be cured or controlled that were considered incurable many years ago. For patients with terminal heart failure or heart disease with other severe comorbidities (cancer, stroke), the questions whether the deactivation of defibrillators is appropriate or must be regarded as active euthanasia may arise.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Notable cases from the author's hospital are analyzed. The literature on the topic euthanasia and basic literature regarding defibrillator therapy are discussed.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

It is undisputed that patients as part of their self-determination have the right to renounce treatment. Active euthanasia and the thereby deliberate induction of death is prohibited by law in Germany and will be prosecuted. Passive euthanasia is the omission or reduction of possibly life-prolonging treatment measures. Passive euthanasia requires the patient's consent and is legally and ethically permissible. Indirect euthanasia takes into account acceleration of death as a side effect of a medication. Unpunishable assisted suicide ("assisted suicide") is the mere assistance of self-controlled and self-determined death. Assisted suicide is fundamentally not a criminal offense in Germany. Deactivation of a defibrillator is a treatment discontinuation, which is only permitted in accordance with the wishes of the patient. It is not a question of passive or active euthanasia. Involvement of a local ethics committee and/or legal consultation is certainly useful and sometimes also allows previously unrecognized questions to be answered.