Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

End of life care: Avoiding bias

  1. 44. Some patients, and those close to them, may not be aware of the range of services and treatments available to them, which could have a bearing on the options they would see as offering overall benefit. You should satisfy yourself that the patient has sufficient information and support so that they are not disadvantaged in accessing beneficial treatment and care.
  2. 45. It may be particularly difficult to arrive at a view about the overall benefit of a treatment if the patient has problems in communicating their wishes and preferences, or lacks capacity. In such cases you must not simply rely on your own values or on those of the people consulted about the patient. You should take all reasonable steps to maximise the patient’s ability to participate in the decision-making process. You can find detailed advice about how to approach this in Consent: patients and doctors making decisions together.
  3. 46. You must be careful not to rely on your personal views about a patient’s quality of life and to avoid making judgements based on poorly informed or unfounded assumptions about the healthcare needs of particular groups, such as older people and those with disabilities.v

 

References

v Examples of resources that help doctors to address the health inequalities affecting some patient groups include: Equal treatment: closing the gap. Information for practitioners (2006) and Supplement to Good Medical Practice (2007) by the DRC and available from the Equality and Human Rights Commission; Living and dying with dignity – best practice guide to end of life care for people with a learning disability (2008) Mencap. See also the NHS national service frameworks for older people and children and young people.

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