Overview
The living will is a legal document derived from a communication and deliberation process, medical ethical aspect, currently regulated in Mexico by the General Health Law and the Health Law of Mexico City.
Knowledge of living will in the population with chronic diseases, including rheumatic diseases, has been little addressed. Most patients do not know what the living will document is, so they do not carry it out and others, despite knowing it, have a passive attitude toward doing it.
Description
A study will be carried out on patients with rheumatic diseases and healthy family controls. Patients will be selected from those attending the Department of Immunology and Rheumatology in Mexico City outpatient department, including consecutive cases.
The patients will be assessed for their quality of life and disability. Patients and controls will be evaluated on the knowledge of living will, their perceptions about specific health outcomes, sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, and psychiatric pathology.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
Cases
- Patients with a rheumatic disease diagnostic by a rheumatologist
- Patients with rheumatic diseases attending the Department of Immunology and Rheumatology in Mexico City outpatient department
- Patients who agree to participate in the study, who complete and sign the informed consent Controls
- Relative of a patient with rheumatic diseases of the same sex and age ± 5 years, without known rheumatic and/or chronic disease and without the use of pharmacological treatment for more than 7 days during the month before study entry.
Exclusion Criteria:
Cases
- Patients with severe diseases or in palliative care by a rheumatologist
Controls
- Withdrawal of the study