Introduction: Cardiac arrest is one of the most common causes of death worldwide and represents one of the greatest challenges in emergency medical care. Despite advances in medicine, many ethical dilemmas remain associated with resuscitation decision-making, particularly for patients with a low chance of survival or for patients in the terminal phase of the disease. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work was to explore the ethical issues related to resuscitation. Methods: We reviwed the professional and scintific literature, which we searched in the bibliographic databases CINAHL Ultimate, MEDLINE, ScienceDirect and COBIB.si., as well as in the Google Scholar search engine. Results: Ethical dilemmas arise in the decision to resuscitate, especially regarding respect for patient autonomy, the reasonableness of resusictation and the role of relatives. The presence of relatives during resuscitation may bring benefits such as emotional support and better communication, but it may also cause additional stress for healthcare staff. Discussion and conclusion: Deciding on resuscitation requires weighing several factors, including patient autonomy, clinical expediency and legal considerations. It is important that the patient's wishes are taken into account beforehand. Advance wishes and Do-not-resusciate orders help to ensure that the patient's wishes are respected. Otherwise, these practices are often hampered by lack of clarity and educaton. From this perspective, clearer guidelines need to be established, education of healthcare staff needs to be improved and better comunication between healthcare professionals, patients and relatives needs to be ensured.
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