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Universitas Medica
Print version ISSN 0041-9095On-line version ISSN 2011-0839
Abstract
GEMPELER RUEDA, Fritz Eduardo et al. Non-Proportional Medical Interventions at the End of Life in a High Complexity Hospital in Colombia. Univ. Med. [online]. 2021, vol.62, n.1, pp.13-21. Epub Jan 15, 2021. ISSN 0041-9095. https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.umed62-1.imnp.
Purpose:
To analyze the interventions carried out in a cohort of patients who died in a university hospital of high complexity and define their therapeutic proportionality, based on the study of the prevalence of “non-beneficial treatments”.
Methodology:
Retrospective descriptive observational study, based on the review of medical records of patients who died in a two-year period in a highly complex university hospital.
Results:
931 records of deceased patients were analyzed and categorized according to the criteria of “therapeutic proportionality”. It was found that 54.7 % of the patients underwent diagnostic or therapeutic interventions classified as “disproportionate” according to the applied definition.
Conclusion:
Non-proportional or non-beneficial end-of-life interventions are prevalent in the clinical practice, which is a persistent problem of modern medicine that needs to be addressed, because its negative impact on patients, families, health professionals and the health system.
Keywords : bioethics; ethics; medical; medical futility; humanization in medicine.
