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Letter

Withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment: the necessity of discrepancies in ethical reasoning

Frédéric Pochard1, Nancy Kentish-Barnes2 and Elie Azoulay1*

Author Affiliations

1 Famirea Group, Service de Réanimation Médicale, AP-PH, Saint Louis Hospital, 1 avenue Claude Vellefaux, University Paris 7, 75010 Paris, France

2 Famirea Group and LAPSAC, AP-HP, Saint Louis Hospital, 1 avenue Claude Vellefaux, University Paris 7, 75010 Paris, France

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Critical Care 2008, 12:418 doi:10.1186/cc6873

Published: 29 April 2008

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

Observations can be proposed regarding the study by Rydvall and Lynöe [1]. The use of standardised questionnaires in the general population measures the intention of the persons interviewed but not the reality of reasoning in a concrete clinical situation.