Living will in medical practice: physicians’ perceptions

Authors

  • Márcia Adriana Dias Meirelles Moreira
  • Solange Fátima Geraldo da Costa
  • Mônica Lorena Dias Meirelles da Cunha
  • Ana Aline Lacet Zaccara
  • Melissa Negro-Dellacqua http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5738-5509
  • Fernando Dutra

Abstract

The living will is a relevant theme to be discussed from the sanitary and legal points of view and is also an important instrument to drive the assistance to terminally ill patients according to their final wills. We performed this exploratory and qualitative research to study the opinion of 36 resident doctors in Brazil public hospitals, regarding to the inclusion of the living will in medical practice. Data were collected in August, 2013. Our results stressed the relevance of living will for the autonomy of the terminally ill patient, providing the humanization of his treatment. This article shows the need of a law to rule the formal use of this directory in Brazil. It is also important to point out the necessity to broaden the discussions about the theme in Brazilian reality, in order to promote a larger comprehension of those physicians’ point of view when dealing with the last moments of their patients’ lives.

Keywords:

Medical care. Living wills. Right to die.
Vol. 25 No. 1 (2017): Rev. bioét. (Impr.). 2017; 25 (1)

Published:

2017-03-30

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How to Cite

1.
Moreira MADM, da Costa SFG, da Cunha MLDM, Zaccara AAL, Negro-Dellacqua M, Dutra F. Living will in medical practice: physicians’ perceptions. Rev. bioét.(Impr.). [Internet]. 2017 Mar. 30 [cited 2024 May 11];25(1). Available from: https://revistabioetica.cfm.org.br/revista_bioetica/article/view/1309