Each year, many thousands of people have electronic devices implanted, including pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and small recorders to monitor the heart’s rhythm. This new document from the Resuscitation Council (UK), the British Cardiovascular Society and the National Council for Palliative Care provides comprehensive guidance on what should be done when someone with one of these implanted electronic devices is approaching the end of their life, suffers sudden cardiac arrest or has died.
The guidance is published as a supplement to Heart and is freely accessible. Follow the link below, select ‘Review’ and then select ‘[PDF]'.
- Guidance - Cardiovascular implanted devices in people towards the end of life, during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and after death
This detailed broader guidance is supported by a practical guide for health professionals and by an information leaflet for patients and carers, both focusing specifically on deactivation of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators towards the end of life. 
