title: Is a good death possible after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy?
abstract: Life-sustaining therapy (LST) is commonly withdrawn in critical care units. Little is known about the families' perceptions of death when a critically ill patient dies after LST is withdrawn. The purpose of this study was to understand if families perceived that their family members had a good or a bad death when a family member had LST withdrawn after an unexpected, life-threatening illness or injury. Twenty-two family members participated in a hermeneutic phenomenological study. They were interviewed 1 to 2 years after a family member had died after withdrawal of LST. Most family members perceived that their loved ones died a good death. Although the timing and circumstances of a person's death may be bad in many ways, the actual dying and death can be good.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA. wiegand@son.umaryland.edu
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Wiegand
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Petri
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003422:Critical Care; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014481:United States; D028761:Withholding Treatment