Termination of prehospital resuscitative efforts: a study of documentation on ethical considerations at the scene.

A strengthened practice of documenting ethical considerations in prehospital life-and-death decision-making in the patient's medical records is required. We suggest that a template be implemented in the prehospital medical records describing the basis for any ethical decisions. This template should contain information regarding the persons involved in the deliberations and notes on ethical considerations. The documentation should include considerations concerning the patient's end-of-life wishes, the estimations of the quality of life before and after the incident, and a summary of other ethical concerns taken into account, such as the integrity of the patient and frame of mind of relatives.