Czech Doctors’ Chamber adopts advice on treatment of terminally ill

2010-03-03

In a ground-breaking move, the Czech Doctors’ Chamber has issued a set of guidelines on the treatment of terminally ill patients, intended to help doctors decide when therapy becomes futile and can justifiably be withdrawn. While the guidelines have the support of most doctors, they sparked concerns among some patient groups about potential abuse and creeping acceptance of euthanasia, claims that the Chamber has strongly denied.
The document – drawn up at the behest of the Czech Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine – for the first time systematically addresses matters hitherto left to individual doctors to decide and justify to relatives, but is not legally binding. In the words of Milan Kubek, head of the Czech Doctors’ Chamber, the guidelines are meant to prevent patients from receiving futile, i.e. ineffective and burdensome treatment (especially intensive surgery) that cannot prolong their life or lead to recovery, but do not apply to palliative care. Furthermore, they concern mainly patients in a coma or with multiple organ failure, but even in such cases patients’ previous wishes must be taken into consideration.
Kubek added that the Chamber remained opposed to euthanasia, which is illegal in the Czech Republic.