ReviewIntensive care medicine2008
The world's major religions' points of view on end-of-life decisions in the intensive care unit.
Review in Intensive care medicine, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Christian perspectives on palliative sedation: a literature study.BMC palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- What helps or hinders effective end-of-life care in adult intensive care units in Middle Eastern countries? A systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2024Guideline
- Guidelines for the withdrawal of life-sustaining measures.Intensive care medicine · 2016Guideline
- Article
- Perceptions of ethical decision-making climate among clinicians working in European and US ICUs: differences between religious and non-religious healthcare professionals.BMC medical ethics · 2025Observational
- Conscience clause in brain death care: ethical and legal perspectives of young nurses and midwives in Poland.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Limitation of life sustaining therapy in disorders of consciousness: ethics and practice.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2024Review
- Attitudes of the Portuguese population towards advance directives: an online survey.BMC medical ethics · 2024Article
- Racial disparities in end-of-life suffering within surgical intensive care units.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2024Article
- Palliative Care in Severe Neurotrauma Patients in the Intensive Care Unit.Neurocritical care · 2023Article
- The impact of religion on changes in end-of-life practices in European intensive care units: a comparative analysis over 16 years.Intensive care medicine · 2023Article
- Differences in directives to limit treatment and discontinue mechanical ventilation between elderly and very elderly patients: a substudy of a multinational observational study.Intensive care medicine · 2023Observational
- Dialysis withdrawal and symptoms of anxiety and depression: a prospective cohort study.BMC nephrology · 2023Article
- Buddhism.Cancer treatment and research · 2023Article
- Greek Orthodox.Cancer treatment and research · 2023Article
- At the end: A vignette-based investigation of strategies for managing end-of-life decisions in the intensive care unit.Journal of the Intensive Care Society · 2021Article
- Disparities in Palliative and Hospice Care and Completion of Advance Care Planning and Directives Among Non-Hispanic Blacks: A Scoping Review of Recent Literature.The American journal of hospice & palliative care · 2021Article
- Spiritual care in the intensive care unit.Anaesthesiology intensive therapy · 2021Review
- To What Extent Does Clinically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration Have a Role in the Care of Dying People?Journal of palliative care · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveRecent research has shown that the religious affiliation of both physicians and patients markedly influences end-of-life decisions in the intensive care unit in the Western world. The world's major religions' standings on withholding and withdrawing of therapy, on hastening of the death process when providing pain relief (double effect) and on euthanasia are described. This review also discusses whether nutrition should be provided to patients in a permanent vegetative state, and the issues of brain death and organ donation.
designThe review is based on literature research and a description of the legislature in countries where religious rulings do influence secular law.
resultsNot all religions have distinct rulings on all the above-mentioned issues, but it is pointed out that all religions will probably have to develop rulings on these questions. The importance of patient autonomy in the Western (Christian) world is not necessarily an issue among other ethnic and religious groups, and guidelines are presented with methods to uncover and deal with different ethnic and religious views.
conclusionMany religious groupings are now spread world-wide (most notably Muslims), and with increasing globalization it is important that health-care systems take into account the religious beliefs of a wide variety of ethnic and religious groups when contemplating end-of-life decisions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
18157484What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.