Table 4.

Causes and Circumstances of Death Among Patients With ICDs

Patient	Cause of Death	Place of Death	Hospice Services at Time of Death	Code Status at Time of Death	Shocks Proximate to Dying Process	ICD Deactivated?
1	Progressive heart failure	Home	Yes	Comfort measures only	Yes—VT storm with multiple shocks in setting of progressive heart failure	Yes
2	Pulseless electrical activity arrest	Emergency Room	No	Full	Yes—Multiple shocks during dying process/ED code	No
3	Progressive heart failure	Hospital	No	Comfort measures only	Yes—Multiple shocks in last several days of life in hospital prior to ICD deactivation	Yes
4	Progressive heart failure, sepsis	Hospital	No	Comfort measures only	Yes—Multiple shocks in last several days of life in hospital prior to ICD deactivation	Yes
5	Cardiac arrest	Home	No	Full	Yes—Multiple shocks at home in setting of cardiac arrest	No
6	Progressive heart failure	Home	Yes	Comfort measures only	No	Yes
7	Liver cancer	Home	Yes	Comfort measures only	No	Yes
8	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
9	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

ICD indicates implantable cardioverter‐defibrillators.