The Liverpool Care Pathway

Abstract

For many practising doctors, especially in general practice or in general internal medicine, decisions at the end of life are often some of the most difficult. Not only is decision making difficult, but implementation may create a further set of problems. Most of us are orientated to doing something – usually something that is active, promoting life or health. Many end of life decisions demand something different: the acceptance that life is coming to an end and that the quality of the final phase of the patient’s illness is to offer a good death. The doctor must reorientate his or her thinking to a different, less distinct target. Reference to the the development of the Liverpool Care Pathway for the dying patient (LCP).