Disconnecting a Ventilator at the Request of a Patient Who Knows He Will Then Die: The Doctor's Anguish

Recently we assisted in withdrawing life support from a patient who repeatedly asked to have his ventilator disconnected, even after being that he would then die. We found little in the medical literature to us, especially at the feeling level, so we are sharing our experience the hope that others will find our emotional responses, reasoning, and useful....It is beyond the usual role of ethics consultants to take patient care responsibilities and actually perform ventilator withdrawal. do not intend to make it our practice to do this because it is really the role of the care-providers, who should enlist the help of a-intensivist. We appreciate what we have learned from this unusual. After a period of reflection, we are no longer anxious about this, and we believe that we did the right thing in respecting Mr. 's request. Having witnessed from the bedside the suffering and the of this patient and his family, we feel better equipped to other physicians whose patient care responsibilities will require them grapple with similar end-of-life dilemmas.