engleski

The Case of End of Life Decision- Making in a Hospital Setting in Croatia- Ethical and Legal Issues

Croatia has no real experience in clinical ethics consultation services. Every now and then a case comes along that puts in place the question whether such services are necessary or not. In this paper we will present the case that recently happened on a ward in a university hospital in Croatia. The case was about 58yeras old patient with Down syndrome who was admitted to a university hospital because of an eating disorder. This disorder manifested itself through inability of swallowing even liquids without regurgitation. No medical reason for her condition was found. In the course of discussions on the options of the treatment for her condition different options were discussed. A surprising request that came from the patient’ s parents created number of issues that needed to be addressed by medical team. Although, no clinical ethics consultation services were available and the case was pretty difficult to resolve the adequate solution was found to everyone’ s satisfaction. Here we will present to you how this was done. Additional information will be also provided on legal background of the case. Possible approaches and guidelines for acting in similar cases will be presented as well as the possible approaches for facilitating clinical ethics discussions in Croatian hospitals.

clinical ethics consultation; Croatia; end of life decision- making

nije evidentirano