[Not Available].

The authors examined charts for evidence of the use of intravenous fluids in all patients who died from malignant disease occurring in a tertiary care teaching hospital during a 1-year period. Total lengths of stay and survival time after obtaining "do not resuscitate" orders were longer in those who died without intravenous fluids. More than two-thirds of patients with cancer who died in hospital did so with an intravenous line.