End-of-Life Care
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In 1997, as the Supreme Court considered the issue of physician-assisted suicide, the College identified issues surrounding end-of-life care as a priority for policy development and education. The College convened a group of experts on end-of-life care to develop ethical, policy, and clinical recommendations based on consensus that would promote high quality palliative care. Funding from the Greenwall Foundation supported this effort.
Early on, the Consensus Panel identified issues for which consensus recommendations would be most helpful for ACP members. The development of the recommendations on these topics entailed discussions among the Consensus Panel experts, literature reviews, and an extensive external review process by other experts in the field, as well as by clinicians in practice. Although not official College policy, drafts were presented for comment and approval by the Ethics and Human Rights Committee, as well as for comments by the Education Committee, the Board of Governors, and the Board of Regents. Annals of Internal Medicine published the series starting in May 1999.
Patient Education Work Group
In conjunction with the Consensus Panel project, the College convened a second group of experts to develop patient education materials and web content on end-of-life care to serve as companion pieces to the Consensus Panel papers. This Patient Education Work Group identified several of the Consensus Panel papers initial topics for development of patient education materials. The materials - the End-of-Life Care PEACE Series brochures - were released in August 2001 and are available in print or to view online.
More End-of-Life Care Resources
ACP has a number of resources available for physicians and patients on refusal of life-sustaining treatment, advance care planning, and other end-of-life care issues. The Ethics Manual, as well as other EOLC consensus papers and patient education brochures provide guidance and support.
ACP encourages adults with decision-making capacity to talk to their doctor and families about their wishes in the event that one day they cannot make their own health care decisions. ACP formally supported the original legislation to pay for voluntary end-of-life care consultations (see H.R. 1898, the Life Sustaining Treatment Preferences Act of 2009)
For more information the End-of-Life Care Project, contact Lois Snyder at lsnyder@acponline.org, or at 215-351-2835.
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