Ethical challenges in family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer – a qualitative study

BMC Palliative Care

Table 2 Demographic details of interviewed family caregivers (N = 12)

ID	FC‘s gender	Kind of relationship. FC was …	Years FC knew patient in years	FC was appointed as substitute decision-maker¹	Time between diagnosis and admittance to palliative care ward	Time since patient’s death in months	Final place of patient’s death
1	Female	Partner	35	Yes	2–5 years	6	Palliative care ward
2	Female	Partner	15	Yes	3–6 months	6	Inpatient hospice
3	Female	Partner	30	Yes	2–5 years	5	Inpatient hospice
4	Female	Partner	31	Yes	1–2 years	7	Palliative care ward
5	Female	Parent	45	No	5–10 years	5	At home with specialist palliative care
6	Male	Child	36	Yes	1–2 years	6	Nursing home
7	Male	Child	44	No	< 3 months	6	Palliative care ward
8	Female	Partner	16	Yes	> 10 years	8	Palliative care ward
9	Male	Partner	55	No	1–2 years	6	Palliative care ward
10	Female	Partner	30	Yes	1–2 years	6	Palliative care ward
11	Male	Close friend	20	Yes	6–12 months	6	Inpatient hospice
12	Female	Partner	14	No	2–5 years	9	Palliative care ward

¹ During the disease trajectory, the patient had appointed the FC to act as substitute decision-maker in terms of personal (including health) matters. Thus, the FC was permitted under the law to make decisions on behalf of the patient regarding medical decisions, if the patient lacked decision-making capacity
Abbreviations:FCFamily caregivers

ISSN: 1472-684X