title: [Experiences of guardians of psychogeriatric patients regarding decision not to treat].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To obtain an impression of how representatives of psychogeriatric patients experience their role in non-treatment decisions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective.
  
  
  METHODS
  The names of the 50 most recently deceased patients in psychogeriatric departments of a nursing home and of their representatives were obtained from the register of the nursing home. Of the representatives 28 (67%) agreed to an interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  24 of the 28 respondents had participated in some form of medical decision-making. There were 34 decisions of which 33 non-treatment decisions. In most cases the decision was to give symptomatic treatment only. In 27 of 34 cases the representative did not regard it as a burden to be involved in the decision-making, on the contrary they considered it self-evident and were pleased to be involved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, representatives of psychogeriatric nursing home patients did not regard it as a burden to be involved in end-of-life decision-making.
authors.affiliation: Centrum voor Bio-ethiek en Gezondheidsrecht, Universiteit Utrecht.
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: van Zuthem
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van Delden
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003657:Decision Making; D003704:Dementia; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007872:Legal Guardians / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D020458:Third-Party Consent; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*