Nursing

Regulatory focus theory

Creativity

Engineering

Health care

Law and economics

Public relations

Terminally ill

Medical law

Philosophy of medicine

Operating system

Psychiatry

Computer science

Risk analysis (engineering)

Palliative care

Alternative medicine

Psychology

Political science

Holistic health

Sociology

MEDLINE

Medicine

End-of-life care

Space (punctuation)

Engineering ethics

Pathology

Journal of Bioethical Inquiry

Existing regulation of end-of-life care is flawed. Problems include poorly-designed laws, policies, ethical codes, training, and funding programs, which often are neither effective nor helpful in guiding decision-making. This leads to adverse outcomes for patients, families, health professionals, and the health system as a whole. A key factor contributing to the harms of current regulation is a siloed approach to regulating end-of-life care. Existing approaches to regulation, and research into how that regulation could be improved, have tended to focus on a single regulatory instrument (e.g., just law or just ethical codes). As a result, there has been a failure to capture holistically the various forces that guide end-of-life care. This article proposes a response to address this, identifying "regulatory space" theory as a candidate to provide the much-needed holistic insight into improving regulation of end-of-life care. The article concludes with practical implications of this approach for regulators and researchers.

Better Regulation of End-Of-Life Care: A Call For A Holistic Approach