Abstract

PurposeThe acute-on-chronic exacerbations of end-stage respiratory diseases often result in prolonged hospital stays, relating these events to ethical conflicts in the fields of medical futility and distributive justice. This study aimed to understand patients’ preferences for life-sustaining treatments when clinically stable and during regular follow-up visits, and to determine the factors that can influence these preferences.ProcedureThis was a prospective, observational, exploratory study using convenience sampling. Over a three-year period, the study enrolled 106 adult outpatients with end-stage pulmonary disease on long-term oxygen treatment with/without noninvasive mechanical ventilation with dyspnoea scores of 6 or more in the modified Borg dyspnoea scale and one of the following: Gold stage IV, diffusing capacity <40%, heart failure ) stage III/IV, or systolic pulmonary artery...