title: End of life/palliative care/ethics.
abstract: Palliative and end-of-life care, once the purview of oncologists and intensivists, has also become the responsibility of the emergency physician. As our population ages and medical technology enables increased longevity, it is essential that all medical professionals know how to help patients negotiate the balance between quantity and quality of life. Emergency physicians have the opportunity to educate patients and their loved ones on how to best accomplish their goals of care while also enhancing quality of life through treatment of symptoms. The emergency physician must be aware of the ethical and medico-legal parameters that govern decision making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine and Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA. Electronic address: ashley.shreves@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shreves
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Neurocritical Care and Emergency Neurology and Surgical Critical Care, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine, 464 Congress St. Suite 260, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
authors.forename: Evie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marcolini
mesh_terms: D026688:Bioethical Issues; D016638:Critical Illness; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D018447:Medical Futility; D010166:Palliative Care; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000628:therapy; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000941:ethics*
keywords: Bioethics; End of life care; Palliative care