HELP US UNDERSTAND YOUR PERCEPTION OF RISKS AND BENEFITS

When we treat a patient who was poisoned with drugs affecting the heart…

1) Sometimes, we try to prevent the development of toxicity by giving to the patient a substance to drink even if the patient has no symptoms. It may cause some discomfort to the patient given the bad taste of the substance, and may cause vomiting which always carries a risk that the substance could go in the lungs and cause difficulty breathing.

• Do you think it would be worth trying if it saves more lives?
• Do you think it would be worth trying, even if it does not save more lives, but decreases the duration of the hospital stay or the duration of the stay in the intensive care unit (when the patient is very sick and needs continuous monitoring)?
• Do you think it would be worth trying, even if it does not save more lives, but improves heart rate or blood pressure?

2) When the patient is very sick and does not improve with our initial therapies, the risk of complications or death is higher even if there are other treatments to offer.

Some other treatments we may offer involve higher doses of medication or surgical procedures. They may cause a lack of blood flow to fingers, toes or limbs. It some cases, it may even results in amputation. It can also cause a lack of blood flow or clots to the brain. In some cases, this can lead to a need for rehabilitation.  In other cases, even with rehabilitaiton, the patient may not be able to live indepdently afterwards.

Some other rescue therapies have unproven benefit, unknown risks, but may be logical to provide given what action those drugs have on the body.

• Do you think it would be worth to try if it saves more lifes?
• Do you think it would be worth to try if it does not save more lifes, but it decreases the duration of the hospital stay or the duration of the stay in the intensive care unit (when the patient is very sick and needs continuous monitoring)?
• Do you think it would be worth to try if it does not save more lifes, but it improves heart rate or blood pressure?

3) At what stage of the treatment if feasible do you think the patients and/or their families should be involved in the decision-making process?

PLEASE LEAVE A REPLY AND SHARE YOUR OPINION