Physician involvement in the dying process
ISSUE SUMMARY
Support, comfort, respect for patient autonomy, good communication, and adequate pain control are essential elements of the physician’s role in the care of patients in the end stages of life. Decisions near the end of life should be made by the patient and family in consultation with their physicians and other family advisors or counselors.
ADOPTED ACTION OR POLICY
The Kansas Medical Society reaffirms that:
- The principle of patient autonomy requires that physicians must respect the decision to forego life-sustaining treatment by patients who possess decision-making capacity;
- There is no ethical distinction between withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment at the patient’s request;
- Physicians who care for patients with terminal illnesses should seek to educate themselves about end-of-life care;
- Physicians have an obligation to relieve pain and suffering and to promote the dignity and autonomy of dying patients in their care, including providing palliative treatment even though it may foreseeably hasten death; and
- When the treatment goals for a patient in the end stages of a terminal illness shift from curative efforts to comfort care, the level of physician involvement in the patient’s care should not decrease.
Adopted by the KMS House of Delegates on April 30, 2011.
