Currently, the European Association of Palliative Care has a total of nineteen Task Force groups that are formed by interested EAPC members from a range of disciplines and different countries who work together to deliver on focused time-limited projects. The WeCare research group proudly provides their member to a new Task Force added by the name of ‘Wish To Hasten Death (WTHD) in Patients with Life-threatening Illnesses: A clinical issue’.
Being the european culture very diverse, so is the response to suffering and the Wish To Hasten Death (WTHD), both on an individual and national level. Health professionals dedicated to palliative care, working throughout Europe, could greatly benefit from insight into aspects related with a meaningful, sensible and appropriate assessment and response to the WTHD.
This Task Force will produce a White Paper which will:
a) inform readers of current knowledge on the clinical aspects of the desire to die
b) describe the current situation around the WTHD across Europe through multi-professional information regarding its perceived frequency, causes, ways of assessment and response, in cancer as well as non-cancer patients
c) offer evidence-based strategies and actions to address the assessment and respond of the WTHD on a European level.
Chairs
Dr. Cristina Monforte and Dr. Raymond Voltz
Steering Group
Malgorzata Krajknik (Poland), Phil Larkin (Switzerland), Johan Menten (Belgium), Josep Porta-Sales (Spain) and Evert van Leuween (the Netherlands)
Members
Allison Applebaum (USA), Albert Balaguer (Spain), Iris Crespo (Spain), Elisa Garcia (the Netherlands), Mariona Guerrero (Spain), Joaquim Julià (Spain), Brian Kelly (Australia), Kerstin Kremeike (Germany), Marta Labus-Centek (Poland), Denise Pergolizzi (Spain), Klaus Perrar (Germany), Gary Rodin (Canada), Oscar Rodríguez-Mayoral (Mexico), Andrea Rodríguez-Prat(Spain), Barry Rosenfeld (USA), Julia Strupp (Germany) and Keith Wilson (Canada).
