Table 4 |
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|
Discussion with patient of end-of-life decisions in Belgium, according to community |
||||
|
Dutch-speaking |
French-speaking |
Total for Belgium |
||
|
|
||||
|
Number of deaths studieda |
412 |
191 |
603 |
|
|
|
||||
|
Discussion with patientb |
% |
% |
% |
|
|
|
||||
|
Administering life-ending drugs without explicit patient request |
Discussed |
37.5 |
33.3 |
36.0 |
|
Not discussed |
62.5 |
66.7 |
64.0 |
|
|
Patient non-competent |
100.0 |
83.3 |
93.8 |
|
|
Intensified alleviation of symptoms |
Discussed |
30.8 |
23.3 |
28.5 |
|
Explicit request |
38.6 |
25.0 |
35.1 |
|
|
Not discussed |
69.2 |
76.7 |
71.5 |
|
|
Patient non-competent |
67.7 |
67.5 |
67.7 |
|
|
Withholding or withdrawing of life-prolonging treatment |
Discussed |
39.9 |
39.7 |
39.8 |
|
Explicit request |
42.6 |
41.4 |
42.2 |
|
|
Not discussed |
60.1 |
60.3 |
60.2 |
|
|
Patient non-competent |
88.0 |
81.8 |
86.0 |
|
|
Total |
Discussed |
37.1 |
32.5 |
35.7 |
|
Explicit request |
45.1 |
38.7 |
43.3 |
|
|
Not discussed |
62.9 |
67.5 |
64.3 |
|
|
Patient non-competent |
76.3 |
73.2 |
75.3 |
|
|
|
||||
|
a Missing values for discussion with patient: for all ELDs n = 166 (21%) (93 Dutch and 73 French-speaking) i.e. for administering life-ending drugs without explicit patient request n = 1, for intensified alleviation of symptoms n = 125, for withholding or withdrawing of life-prolonging treatment n = 40. b p > .05 for all characteristics (Fishers' Exact test) |
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|
Van den Block et al. BMC Public Health 2009 9:79 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-79 |
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