Limiting Care for Surgical Patients at the End of Life: Principles of Practice

This thought-provoking study¹ of 111 vascular surgery patients who died over a 10-year period ending in 2014 discovered that 73% of the patients died after the initiation of comfort care measures. In other words, most patients on a surgical service no longer die unexpectedly. A decision is made to allow them to die. The therapeutic goals change from rescue to palliation.