For the analysis, researchers examined 38 studies conducted over the course of two decades involving more than a million patients from 10 countries — Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Holland, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.S.
They found 33 percent of elderly patients with irreversible chronic conditions were administered nonbeneficial interventions like admission to intensive care and treatment with chemotherapy in the final two weeks of life. Some were also given CPR though they had do not resuscitate orders.
“Our findings indicate the persistent ambiguity or conflict about what treatment is deemed beneficial,” Magnolia Cardona-Morrell, PhD, who led the research at University of New South Wales Simpson Centre for Health Services Research in Sydney, Australia, said. “The lack of agreed definitions in the medical community of what constitutes ‘treatment futility’ also makes a global dialogue challenging…An honest and open discussion with patients or their families is a good start to avoid non-beneficial treatments.”
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