* Department of Surgical Oncology.
** Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
*** Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
**** Dept. of Pharmacology, S.S. Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre Davangere 577005, Karnataka, India.
***** Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, S.S. Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre Davangere 577005, Karnataka, India.
****** Dept. of Microbiology, S.S. Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre Davangere 577005, Karnataka, India.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in women, especially in the developing countries, where palliative care is not greatly emphasized.
The primary objective is to analyse the various medical, ethical and legal issues faced by terminally ill gynaecological cancer patients. The other objectives being pain assessment, overall health related quality of life, economic issues and to determine preferences regarding decision making and information disclosure to patients.
A non interventional hospital based cross-sectional survey of 100 terminallly ill patients was conducted over a period of 2 years (March 2007 – April 2009).With an informed consent, the patient is asked to complete a questionaire.
74% of patients had intolerable pain, so deprived of sound sleep. 98% of them suffered from some form of depression. Poor educational status and poverty made these patients highly dependable on family members for financial assistance (64%). Comparatively the more elderly patients experienced an inner fear, as they were neglected or abandoned by the care takers.
With good doctor-patient relationship, communication about diagnosis and management was established in 50% of cases, but majority of them (81%) were not involved in decision making, which amounts to medical negligence.
None of the patients were aware of their legal rights during the course of their illness
