Most Doctors Polled Cut Off Life Support
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<i> Reuters</i>
PHILADELPHIA — A high percentage of doctors--96%--have withdrawn or withheld life-support treatment from patients when further treatment seemed futile, and many acted without consent, a new survey shows.
Some critical-care doctors admitted cutting off life supports even over the objections of patients, a report in the current issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine said.
The study surveyed 879 doctors in adult intensive-care units in the United States.