Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Palliative Medicine
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0269216308102043v1
23/4/345    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Michiels, E
Right arrow Articles by Deliens, L
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Michiels, E
Right arrow Articles by Deliens, L
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

research-article

Information disclosure to terminally ill patients and their relatives: self-reported practice of Belgian clinical specialists and general practitioners

E Michiels

Department of Medical Sociology and Health Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, End-of-Life Care Research Group, Brussels

R Deschepper

Department of Medical Sociology and Health Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, End-of-Life Care Research Group, Brussels, rdeschep{at}vub.ac.be

J Bilsen

Department of Medical Sociology and Health Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, End-of-Life Care Research Group, Brussels

F Mortier

Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University, Bioethics Institute, Ghent

L Deliens

Department of Medical Sociology and Health Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, End-of-Life Care Research Group, Brussels; Department of Public and Occupational Health, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam

Objective of this study is to examine physicians’ practices regarding information disclosure to terminally ill patients and to their relatives, without informing the patient. A questionnaire had been sent to a random sample of 3014 Belgian physicians from different specialties frequently involved in end-of-life care. Responses were analysed using weighted percentages, Chi-square, Mann–Whitney U-tests and a multivariate ordinal logistic regression. Response rate was 58%. Both clinical specialists and general practitioners (GPs) discuss most topics related to terminal illness with their patients except end-of-life hastening options, spirituality, life expectancy and options to withhold/withdraw life-sustaining treatment. The topics which most physicians always discuss with relatives without informing the patient are the aim of treatment, palliative care and incurability. There is a significant difference between clinical specialists and GPs. Clinical specialists and GPs discuss most end-of-life topics with the patient but omit important issues such as end-of-life hastening options and life-expectancy.

Key Words: communication • end-of-life care • information disclosure • patient-physician relationship

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 4, 345-353 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0269216308102043
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?