[/floatr]Yomiuri: 31% of hospitals let dying patients die
Thirty-one percent of hospitals have withheld or withdrawn life-sustaining treatment for terminally ill patients using artificial respirators and other forms of medical intervention over the past year, a Yomiuri Shimbun survey has found. Of them, 40 percent said they decided to do so based on the judgment of only one or more doctors. The results indicate that a comprehensive intra-hospital examination system recommended in a health ministry guideline on making such decisions on end-of-life care has not been established yet...Decisions to stop or not start such life-sustaining treatment were mostly made by single doctors at 19 hospitals -- 16 percent of the 117 hospitals in question -- while at 28 hospitals, or 24 percent, such decisions were made by more than one doctor. Ninety-one percent of the 117 hospitals said the nation's end-of-life treatment was problematic as adequate treatment or care is not provided due to reasons such as cost-cutting...more...
