Connect With Us
Connect With Us

End-of-Life Decision Making Across Cultures

End-of-Life Decision Making Across Cultures

Publication date: January 1, 2011

Description: Blank’s 2011 article, “End-of-Life Decision Making Across Cultures” provides a comparative analysis of end-of-life decision-making in twelve countries. The author provides demographic information. He, then, summarizes the differences by country of the cost of dying, use of advanced directives, acceptance of euthanasia, and definition of brain death.

AACN Domain(s): Health Policy; Ethics; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Format: Article

Audience: Baccalaureate Level; Graduate Level; Nursing Faculty

Cost: Available from the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics

Tips and Suggestions: Blank’s article can provide foundational teaching related to global health and health policy in the serious illness and end-of-life care arena. The twelve questions that the author used to look at the different countries could be the starting point for population comparisons in the classroom. Of note, the article was published in 2011 and health policy may have changed since then.

Citation: Blank, R. H. (2011). End-of-Life Decision Making across Cultures. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 39(2), 201–214. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720X.2011.00589.x

Other Resources

Related Resources

Patients’ Spiritual and Cultural Values for Health Care Professionals

January 1, 2014

This resource provides both a culturally sensitive and spiritually sensitive guide aimed at providing health care staff with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to care for an increasingly diverse patient population. The text provides the reader with succinct descriptions of beliefs and practices that may be practiced by persons from various cultures or religious groups.
Ethical Considerations in End-of-Life Care and Research

January 1, 2005

This publication describes six ethical aspects of end-of-life research that investigators and clinicians should consider in designing and conducting palliative care research. These include: (1) whether a project is research or quality improvement; (2) the study's potential benefits to future patients; (3) the study's potential benefits to subjects; (4) the study's risks to subjects; (5) subjects' decision-making capacity; and (6) the subjects' choices to “voluntarily” participate in research.