Kirk Timothy W
Department of History and Philosphy, City University of New York-York College, 94-20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11451, USA.
Home Healthc Nurse. 2008 Jul-Aug;26(7):431-7. doi: 10.1097/01.NHH.0000326324.09466.97.
For patients at the end of life, active automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (AICDs) may no longer achieve the treatment goals present at the time of implantation. It is possible to deactivate AICDs in patients with terminal and life-limiting diagnoses, thereby preventing the pain and distress of nontherapeutic discharge. This article presents a moral argument for the right of such patients to have their AICDs deactivated. It then explains that hospice and home care agencies have an obligation to address AICD deactivation at a policy level and offers recommendations for doing so.
对于临终患者而言,植入式心律转复除颤器(AICD)可能无法再实现植入时设定的治疗目标。对于患有终末期和危及生命疾病的患者,可以停用AICD,从而避免非治疗性电击带来的疼痛和痛苦。本文提出了一个道德论据,支持此类患者停用AICD的权利。然后解释了临终关怀机构和家庭护理机构有义务在政策层面处理AICD停用问题,并提供了相关建议。