Indicators for comfort care: Adult and child
June 1, 1997 less than 1 minute read
Indicators for comfort care: Adult and child
In the following circumstances, comfort care must be offered to patients and families as an option:
• persistent vegetative state;
• minimal cognitive function that is irreversible;
• burdens of cure-oriented treatment are greater to the patient than the medical benefits;
• irreversible and irreparable (multi)organ failure;
• imminent demise
In the following circumstances, comfort care may be the most appropriate option:
• conditions for which life expectancy is severely limited even with aggressive therapy;
• conditions for which cognition may reasonably be expected to be absent or profoundly limited;
• conditions for which morbidity is so great and care is so extremely burdensome to the patient that quality of life is severely impaired.
(Editor’s note: This information was taken from Community Recommendations for Appropriate, Humane Medical Care for Dying or Irreversibly Ill Patients, Extreme Care, Humane Options, California; January 1997.)
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