Ethical Dilemmas in the Care of Patients with Incurable Cancer

This article aims to identify and describe the ethical dilemmas that are involved in the care of patients with incurable cancer. The data were collected in semistructured focused interviews with 32 patients, 13 nurses and 13 doctors from two central hospitals and four community health centres. The i...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Kuuppelomäki, Merja (Author) ; Lauri, Sirkka (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 1998
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 1998, Volume: 5, Issue: 4, Pages: 283-293
Further subjects:B treatment of pain
B CANCER diagnosis
B telling the truth
B active treatment
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This article aims to identify and describe the ethical dilemmas that are involved in the care of patients with incurable cancer. The data were collected in semistructured focused interviews with 32 patients, 13 nurses and 13 doctors from two central hospitals and four community health centres. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interpretation was based on the method of content analysis.Ethical dilemmas occurred at the time of diagnosis, in connection with telling the truth, in providing information, in the treatment of pain, and in decision-making situations concerning active treatment. Dilemmas of active treatment concerned chemotherapy, intravenous infusions, blood transfusions and antibiotics. There were also problems in relationships between nursing staff and next of kin, as well as a lack of co-operation between nurses and doctors.
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/096973309800500402