Age-specific prognostication after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest – The ethical dilemma between ‘life-sustaining treatment’ and ‘the right to die’ in the elderly

Abstract

An initially shockable electrocardiogram proved to be a suitable tool for risk assessment and decision making in order to predict a successful outcome in elderly victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. However, the outcomes of elderly patients seemed to be exceptionally poor in frail individuals and need to be considered in order to reduce unnecessary treatment decisions.