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Biomedical subjects

Kay Mitchell

Publications and source records attributed to Kay Mitchell.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

End of life decision-making by New Zealand general practitioners: a national survey.

AIM: To explore type and incidence of medical decisions at the end of life that hasten death made by general practitioners in New Zealand, within the context of access to palliative care. METHOD: An anonymous questionnaire investigating the last death attended in the previous 12 months was sent to 2602 general practitioners (GPs) in New Zealand. RESULTS: From a 48% (1255) response, 88.9% (1116) GPs indicated access to an interdisciplinary pain management or palliative care team. Of those attending a death in the previous 12 months, 63% (693) had made a prior medical decision. These decisions included withdrawing/withholding treatment or increasing pain relief with (a) probability death would be hastened 61.8% (428) or (b) partly or explicitly to hasten death 32.6% (226). Moreover, death was caused by a drug supplied or administered by the GP in 5.6% cases (39), actions consistent with physician-assisted death. CONCLUSION: Physician-assisted death provided by some general practitioners in New Zealand is occurring within the context of available palliative care.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Judgments of laypersons and general practitioners on justifiability and legality of providing assistance to die to a terminally ill patient: a view from New Zealand.

As part of a larger study, four decisions related to a vignette scenario of the elective death of a terminally ill patient suffering intractable pain are examined (doctor supplying information and drugs, assisting patient to take the drugs, or administering a lethal injection). Judgments on justifiability and legality of actions were obtained from laypersons and general practitioners (GPs) in Auckland, New Zealand. The results show that over 72% of laypersons and over 30% of GPs judged all four actions justified. Despite illegality a significant number of laypersons and some doctors were unsure of the legal status of actions. The current law in New Zealand prohibiting physician-assisted death may not reflect judgments by the majority of laypersons or 30% of general practitioners on the justifiability of elective death options for a terminally ill patient with intractable pain. Judgments on justifiability may be related to confusion over the legality of actions.

Adolescent↗