Study of the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment and related problems in emergency medicine in Japan

在日本，是否对垂死的病人停止机械通气和其他治疗的问题几乎还没有得到探讨。在2008-2009年度，对日本急性医学协会的2，802名医生进行了匿名横断面问卷调查。其中，928人完成了自我报告调查（回复率：33%）。数据显示，机械通气很少从脑死亡患者中撤出，而包括药物在内的其他治疗经常被撤出，从而创造了“软着陆”。在日本，人们对“脑死亡的双重标准”反应不一，即脑死亡的人只有在成为器官捐献者的候选人时才被视为死亡。更多的受访者赞赏双重标准，因为它允许自行决定何时停止向脑死亡者提供医疗服务。

The question of whether to withdraw mechanical ventilation and other treatment from dying patients remains nearly unexplored in Japan. In 2008-2009, an anonymous, cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with 2,802 physicians, who were members of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. Of them, 928 completed the self-report survey (response rate : 33%). Data showed that mechanical ventilation was rarely withdrawn from brain-dead patients, while other treatment including medication was withdrawn frequently so that a "soft-landing" was created. Mixed reaction was observed to "the double standard of brain death" in Japan, in which brain-dead people are considered dead only when they are organ donor candidates. More respondents appreciated the double standard because it allows discretion regarding when to stop providing medical care to brain-dead people.