Abstract
Currently, there is an epidemic of elders in nursing homes with swallowing difficulties, Alzheimer's, and other maladies, which cause diminished decision-making capacity and initiate the discussion of whether to insert a gastrostomy tube. Furthermore, there is an overriding belief among health care practitioners that once inserted the tube will remain until the death of the resident.
The need for policy provisions related to treatment trials of gastrostomy tubes at the end-of-life is discussed. The arguments supporting and opposing treatment trials as applied to the individual and to the community are articulated and the benefits of such a policy discussed from an individual and community perspective.
Sigma Membership
Eta Pi
Type
Article
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Case Study/Series
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Ethics, Nursing, Withdraw Treatment, Withhold Treatment, Treatment, Policies, Palliative Care, Gastrostomy Tubes, Euthanasia
Recommended Citation
Wurzbach, Mary Ellen, "Treatment trials - The need for an end-of-life policy" (2024). General Submissions: Nursing as Profession. 9.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/gen_sub_np/9
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Peer-review: Single Blind
Acquisition
Self-submission
Full Text of Presentation
wf_yes
Description
This article is based on a five-year case study and a doctoral dissertation.