Withholding the artificial administration of fluids and food from elderly patients with dementia: ethnographic study.
OBJECTIVE
To clarify the practice of withholding the artificial administration of fluids and food from elderly patients with dementia in nursing homes.


METHODS
Qualitative, ethnographic study in two phases.


METHODS
10 wards in two nursing homes in the Netherlands.


METHODS
35 patients with dementia, eight doctors, 43 nurses, and 32 families.


RESULTS
The clinical course of dementia was considered normal and was rarely reason to begin the artificial administration of fluids and food in advanced disease. Fluids and food seemed to be given mainly when there was an acute illness or a condition that needed medical treatment and which required hydration to be effective. The medical condition of the patient, the wishes of the family, and the interpretations of the patients' quality of life by their care providers were considered more important than living wills and policy agreements.


CONCLUSIONS
Doctors' decisions about withholding the artificial administration of fluids and food from elderly patients with dementia are influenced more by the clinical course of the illness, the presumed quality of life of the patient, and the patient's medical condition than they are by advanced planning of care. In an attempt to understand the wishes of the patient doctors try to create the broadest possible basis for the decision making process and its outcome, mainly by involving the family.
The
Anne-Mei
AM
Department of Social Medicine, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Vrije University Medical Centre, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, Netherlands. am.the.emgo@med.vu.nl
Pasman
Roeline
R
Onwuteaka-Philipsen
Bregje
B
Ribbe
Miel
M
van der Wal
Gerrit
G
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003657:Decision Making; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D016224:Living Wills; D008297:Male; D016743:Mental Competency; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009735:Nursing Homes; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011788:Quality of Life; D028761:Withholding Treatment