Most doctors in Asia withhold treatments of terminally ill patients
70% of physicians in Asia would withhold life-sustaining treatments, a study found.
Jason Phua of the National University Hospital in Singapore noted that more than half of all cases of critical illness, mechanical ventilation and deaths in intensive care units (ICUs) occur in Asia, but there is a lacking on critical data of end-of-care practices in ICUs across the continent.
The study
To find out, the researchers asked 2,460 physicians to complete a scenario-based survey designed to gather information on their attitudes toward withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments among patients in ICUs.
The physicians managed patients in 466 ICUs over 16 countries and regions in Asia, including Pakistan, China, Honk Kong, Iran, Singapore, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, India and the Philippines.
Of the 1,465 physicians who completed the survey, 70.2% said they would often or almost always withhold life-sustaining treatments for patients “with no real chance of recovering a meaningful life,” while 20.7% said they would often or almost always withdraw life-sustaining treatments for such patients.
What is more, 2.5% of physicians said they would often or almost always intentionally administered large doses of drugs – such as barbiturates and morphine – to terminally ill patients until they passed away.
