Advance directives, palliative care and clinical bioethics committees.

ABSTRACT

The topic under discussion at the 10th Brazilian Congress on Bioethics was “Advance directives, palliative care, and clinical bioethics committees,” among the most important end-of-life issues. Other than the psychosocial, medical, and ethical aspects of making an end-of-life decision, juridical concerns need to be considered as well. From the point of view of physicians, one of the main difficulties faced by them while making such decisions is determining the appropriate time for the suspension of medical procedures in patients with incurable diseases.