Revista Científica de la Sociedad Española de Medicina de Urgencias y Emergencias

Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitari Joan XXIII de Tarragona, Spain. Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain. Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain.

Emergency services’ main purpose is to save lives, but that worthy mission cannot always be accomplished. When caring for patients toward the end of life, we have an ethical obligation to talk with them and their relatives to obtain consensus on treatment and possibly limit it or adjust management in accordance with the patient’s condition. Emergency department protocols are necessary for optimizing care to provide the greatest possible comfort and control of symptoms in patients at the end of life to prevent unnecessary suffering and preserve dignity. This article sets out recommendations — including the principles and ethical standards that underlie them — so that emergency services can develop end-of-life care protocols for use in their own settings.