Background: Patients facing end-of-life issues have spiritual concerns that may have an impact on their medical decision-making.
Methods: To determine whether physicians address spiritual concerns in this context, we reviewed the charts of 92 elderly hospitalized patients facing decisions regarding resuscitation status or feeding tube placement.
Results: The average age of the participants was 72.4 years and 51% of them were female. Only 6.5% of the patients had spiritual histories documented in their charts; 29% had either a spiritual history or some mention of chaplain or psychiatrist involvement.
Conclusion: Spiritual concerns of many patients facing end-of-life decisions are not being addressed.