Medical end-of-life decisions made for neonates and infants in the Netherlands, 1995–2001

End-of-life decision-making for severely affected infants might be influenced by technical advances and societal debates. In 2001, we assessed the proportion of deaths of infants younger than 1 year that were preceded by end-of-life decisions, by replicating a questionnaire study from 1995. This pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2005-04, Vol.365 (9467), p.1329-1331
Main Authors: Vrakking, Astrid M, van der Heide, Agnes, Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D, Keij-Deerenberg, Ingeborg M, van der Maas, Paul J, van der Wal, Gerrit
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analgesics
Analgesics, Opioid - administration & dosage
Babies
Bioethics
Biological and medical sciences
Decision Making
Decisions
Drugs
Euthanasia
Euthanasia, Active - statistics & numerical data
General aspects
Humans
Infant
Infant mortality
Infant, Newborn
Infants
Intensive care
Medical prognosis
Medical sciences
Medical technology
Narcotics
Neonatal care
Neonates
Netherlands
Newborn babies
Pain
Parents & parenting
Replication
Right to die
Surveys and Questionnaires
Withholding Treatment - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:End-of-life decision-making for severely affected infants might be influenced by technical advances and societal debates. In 2001, we assessed the proportion of deaths of infants younger than 1 year that were preceded by end-of-life decisions, by replicating a questionnaire study from 1995. This proportion increased from 62% to 68% (weighted percentages), but the difference was not significant. Most of these decisions were to forgo life-sustaining treatment. Decisions to actively end the lives of infants not dependent on life-sustaining treatment remained stable at 1%. The practice of end-of-life decision-making in neonatology of 2001 has changed little since 1995.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)61030-6