| [ Summary ] |
Various problems concerning medical ethics such as initiation or termination of life sustaining treatment are becoming social problems. At the same time, the importance of palliative care and hospice care are becoming widely recognized by the general population.
With the progress that has been made in dialysis therapy, dialysis has come to be available for cancer patients and elderly patients. However, there are few medical ethical guidelines for this therapy in Japan. Therefore, in this report, the US guidelines termed "Shared Decision-Making in the Appropriate Initiation of and Withdrawal from Dialysis" are introduced, along with the real life aspects of Ethics Consultation in Japan. |