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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : October 12, 2014 6:14 PM IST
Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine (ISCCM) and Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) have come together on the occasion of ISCCM foundation day (9th October 2014) and World Palliative Care Day (11th October 2014) for creating awareness and establishing consensus about the difficult ethical, legal and medical issues in End of Life Care in India along with senior doctors from ISCCM, IAPC, other medical societies, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations (NABH), senior members of legal fraternity.
The theme for the ISCCM day this year to be jointly celebrated with the World Palliative Care Day (IAPC) is 'We must know when to stop the care of the terminally ill patient in ICU ' 'Who cares? - We do' 'Together we choose'
Medical decisions around terminal illnessare emotive issues for patients, families and care givers. The quality of care dying patients receive is an important indicator of the health of our society. Unfortunately, India figured 39th in a list of 40 countries evaluated for quality of death in an international study conducted by the Economic Intelligence Unit in 2012.
Explaining about the issue, Dr. Rajesh Chawla Chancellor Indian College of critical care medicine said: 'Recently there has been discussion on the controversial issue of euthanasia. The medical profession does not endorse euthanasia but wishes to draw the attention of the public to a more important issue which is referred to as end of life care. All over the world there has been a movement away from applying aggressive treatment to persons dying from incurable disease. By current estimates such deliberate withholding or withdrawal of life support happens in 75 90% of ICU deaths. This practice is called limiting life support or foregoing of life support that is applied in many countries with appropriate supportive legal framework.' (Read: Tele-ICU now a reality in India)
ISCCM as the premier society of intensive care professionals can play an important role in this debate and facilitate the development of appropriate laws by parliament. It has and should continue to guide the evolution of end of life care including formulation of this law.To this end, ISCCM has intervened in the case before the Supreme Court with an impleadment motion filed by ISCCM.
In order to create greater awareness and a nationwide consensus the ISCCM and IAPChave published a joint position statement in the September 2014 issue of the Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine (IJCCM website: https://www.ijccm.org) two societies intend to involve other national medical societies in this effort. (Read: Now an ICU in your home at a much cheaper cost!)
Photo source: Getty images
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