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This volume explores how the scarce resources of intensive care units should be distributed. Three hypothetical patients, each with a different chance of survival, desire intensive care. A multinational panel of experienced critical care physicians offers assessments of the patients' conditions and outlines approaches to treatment. These approaches are then examined by academic medical experts and a medical ethicist, as well as from a legal perspective. The result is a well-rounded and introspective look at care for critically ill patients at or near the end of life.
List of contents
Overview.- Medical Futility in American Health Care.- Multinational Perspective on Treatment of the Three Patients.- Description of the Cases.- South Africa.- Australia.- United Kingdom.- India.- New Zealand.- The Netherlands.- Russia.- Hong Kong.- Israel.- Canada.- Urban United States.- Summaries of Medical Comments.- Patient A.- Is Treatment Worthwhile?.- Globalization of Critical Care.- A Multilevel Examination of a Critically I11 Patient.- Patient B.- The Decision-Making Process.- Should Patient B Receive Critical Care?.- The Yin and Yang of Critical Care: Utilitarianism Meets the Law of Supply and Demand.- Patient C.- Treatment of a "Classic" Intensive Care Unit Patient.- Should This Patient Be Admitted to a Critical Care Unit?.- Multiple Organ Failure and Intensive Care.- General Multidisciplinary Survey.- Discussion of the Medical Aspects of Futility.- Discussion of the Ethical Aspects of Futility.- Waiting for the Cavalry: The Role of the Courts in Recognizing Medical Futility.- Comments From Paramedical Providers.- End-of-Life Care in the Intensive Care Unit.- Advanced Medical Technology and End of Life: A Respiratory Care Practitioner's Perspective.- Medical Futility.- Afterword.
Summary
This volume explores how the scarce resources of intensive care units should be distributed. A multinational panel of experienced critical care physicians offers assessments of the patients' conditions and outlines approaches to treatment.
Additional text
"this book provides a very interesting and stimulating dialogue on the increasingly complex end-of-life issues that are so relevant to the practice of intensive care medicine."
(Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, October (2002)
Report
"this book provides a very interesting and stimulating dialogue on the increasingly complex end-of-life issues that are so relevant to the practice of intensive care medicine."
(Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, October (2002)
