Advances in Palliative Medicine 2011, tom 10, nr 2

Dear Readers,  We make decisions every day. To do it properly, we analyze situation, estimate pros and cons, ask our  conscience. We also have to anticipate the consequences of our decisions and take measures if something  may go wrong. To be a healthcare professional dealing with end-of-life issues means we needs to deal with  many ethical or moral questions that may come up during patient’s care..

The paper entitled “Bioethics Committees/Commissions in Hospitals — The Experience of Other Countries. Where to Start?” touches upon the topic of calling into being bioethics committees in Polish hospitals. The need for creating such advisory bodies, and the range of their competence, is shown on the basis of western publications (especially those from French and English speaking countries) as well as on the basis of the personal experience of the author as a member of the bioethics committee in an English hospital (Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne)...

Problems concerning discontinuation of overzealous therapy and so called ‘living wills” have been ignored in the Polish law through many years. Intensive transformations which have been made in the field of medical regulations since 1989 could not omit such a sensitive issue. Nowadays in Poland there have been an intensive debate regarding euthanasia, overzealous therapy and living will institutions...

The problems of a child with cancer were frequently and widely reported in the scientific literature in medicine and psychology. This problem, however, rarely took place in pedagogical analyses. Studies show, however, that apart from the strict psychological issues, the upbringing and educational problems increasingly begin to get importance...

The diagnosis of colorectal cancer initiates a process of dealing with the disease and various treatments. An effective psycho-social help from a specialized nurse can alleviate suffering and improve the quality of a patient’s life. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of nursing care provided to patients undergoing first line cytotoxic treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC)...

Identification of nutritional problems can facilitate strategies which need to be employed in the frail, non-cancerous elderly patient with bed sores at the end of their life. Aim of study was to investigate nutritional status among elderly patients with pressure sores...

We are all asked for consultations to see a complex patient or to answer the telephone call and think about the patient without seeing him and without touching him. Although this type of consultation is much cheaper, faster and sometimes effective. There is a danger that we hear only a part of the story, or a story coloured in such a way that it will push the decision in one direction, intended by a doctor or nurse who requested it...