End of life care in Brazil: The long and winding road

Abstract

Disagreements between the perceptions of nurses and physicians regarding end-of-life (EOL) decisions are frequent. In a survey carried out in 13 Brazilian ICUs, Fumis and Deheinzelin reported that the majority of nurses, physicians and family members are in favor of limiting life-sustaining therapies in terminally ill patients and that such decisions should involve the ICU team, patients and family members. However, they also observed significant differences among the attitudes when faced with an incompetent patient. The present commentary evaluates the potential implications of the study results, contextualizing with the current scenario surrounding EOL care in Brazil. © 2011 BioMed Central Ltd.