Published 22 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2542
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2542

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Three quarters of German intensive care doctors and cardiologists admit to rationing treatment

Annette Tuffs

1 Heidelberg

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A survey that found that 77% of German doctors who work in intensive care or cardiology have withheld treatment from a non-private patient at least once in the previous six months has reignited the debate about healthcare rationing in Germany.

The study, by ethicists from the Universities of Tübingen, Hannover, and Berlin, was published in a recent issue of the Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (2009;134:1261-6, doi:10.1055/s-0029-1225273).

In May the call by Jörg-Dietrich Hoppe, president of the German Medical Association, for a list of diseases to be established for which patients should pay for diagnostic procedures and treatment was heavily attacked by politicians and health insurance companies (BMJ 2009;338:b2045, 20 May, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2045).

In the new national survey, which was funded by a government grant, 1137 randomly selected doctors working in cardiology or critical care medicine were asked to complete a questionnaire, of whom 507 (45%) responded. Of . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

German doctors’ leader calls for debate on rationing
Annette Tuffs
BMJ 2009 338: b2045. [Extract] [Full Text]

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