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Ethical Challenges of Early Identification of Advanced Chronic Patients in Need of Palliative Care

2018; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 33; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0825859718788933

2369-5293

Xavier Gómez‐Batiste, Carles Blay, Marc Antoni Broggi, Cristina Lasmarías, Laura Vila, Jordi Amblàs-Novellas, Joan Espaulella, Xavier Costa, Marisa Martínez-Muñoz, B.E. Garcia Robles, Salvador Quintana, Joan Bertran, Francesc Torralba Roselló, Carmen Benito, Núria Terribas, Josep M. Busquets, Carles Constante,

Ethics in medical practice

Palliative care must be early applied to all types of advanced chronic and life limited prognosis patients, present in all health and social services. Patients' early identification and registry allows introducing palliative care gradually concomitant with other measures. Patients undergo a systematic and integrated care process, meant to improve their life quality, which includes multidimensional assessment of their needs, recognition of their values and preferences for advance care planning purposes, treatments review, family care, and case management. Leaded by the National Department of Health, a program for the early identification of these patients has been implemented in Catalonia (Spain). Although the overall benefits expected, the program has raised some ethical issues. In order to address these challenges, diverse institutions, including bioethics and ethics committees, have elaborated a proposal for the program's advantages. This paper describes the process of evaluation, elaboration of recommendations, and actions done in Catalonia.