Third, an

ethical process entails information and consent of patients, families, or both. In our study only six patients were consulted, and relatives were included in EOL decision in 70% of cases, as reported in others ED studies. However, in our study the reasons for non-participation of patients and families have not been recorded. EOL care requires a great deal of collaboration and communication between the patient, his or her family, and other parties, which becomes extremely difficult in the emergency department given the time constraints [24]. Some patients have seen many doctors and specialists, but no one person can provide the whole picture and help with the decision-making process. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Such cases are challenging Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and time-consuming and require many decisions to be made in a hectic ED environment

[24]. The absence of Moroccan guidelines governing the relationship between physician, patient, and family, can explains the low participation of the selleck chemical patient and his family in the decision. Whether or not a doctor can prolong life by introducing aggressive invasive treatments without causing further harm is a joint decision made by all associated with the patient. In some instances the matter is even referred Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to the religious leaders, who provide prescriptive rulings for the families’ consideration [38]. These judgments demand that decision-makers balance important ethical and legal principles such as the sanctity of life, the right of a patient to determine how he/she shall be treated, and the expectation that a doctor’s first consideration will be the welfare or best interests of the patient [36]. Fourth, only one decision was Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical notified in the medical record, which may reflect the

reluctance of physicians to record their decisions in the Moroccan legal circumstances. The similarities between our results and those in western countries suggest similarities between Islamic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical physicians and other Western physicians in EOL decisions. Although Islam has some doctrinal differences from Judaism and Christianity. The 3 monotheistic religions, Judaism, Ketanserin Christianity and Islam, believe in the same God and shares essentially the same code of morality [36]. The finding from our study that WH/WD decisions are done in emergency clinical practice, whatever their frequency, is striking. In our study, we found that withholding (24.2%) was making rather than withdrawing treatment decision (6.2%). This distinction between withholding and withdrawing treatment was also reported from previous studies [12,18,20,21,31], and could be explained by difficulties encountered by emergency physicians. ED are dedicated to making rapid decisions in a high-stress, fast paced environment and for caring for unexpected illnesses or injuries. However, Physicians often lack crucial data concerning the patient’s earlier state of health and autonomy.